Blame Andy Warhol for Drop in Auction Sales

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Mar 22nd 2009 at 11:03AM

It's no surprise that last year's art market looked nothing like that of 2007. Last year, the top 10 artists by sales racked up $1.7 billion and accounted for 20 percent of the global art market on 1.5 percent of transactions. This slip in the big revenue number is a lot different from 2007, in which the top 10 brought in $1.8 billion, a year-over-year gain of 50 percent, according to ArtPrice.

Andy Warhol was the problem last year.

The top artist of 2007 fell substantially last year. In 2008, only $236.7 million in Warhol sales occurred – compared to $420 million the year before. As a result, Warhol slid from the #1 spot to #3, and Picasso regained the apex. Francis Bacon moved from #3 to #2 on sales of $256 million. Unbelievable growth of 514 percent in his work from January 2005 to January 2008 turned abruptly, and the artist finished last year down 48 percent ... not that he'd give a tinker's damn about it.

Despite the economic challenges, the price of admission grew. Last year, sales in a particular artist at auction had to reach $91.8 million to hit the big time, up from $87 million in 2007, $59.6 million in 2006 and a comparatively paltry $33.7 million in 2005.

Take a look at the scorecard after the jump.

Pablo Picasso: $262 million

Francis Bacon: $256 million

Andy Warhol: $236 million

Damien Hirst: $230 million

Claude Monet: $174 million

Alberto Giacometti: $132 million

Gerhard Richter: $122 million

Edgar Degas: $111 million

Lucio Fontana: $95 million

Yves Klein: $91 million

The mystery remains just how the hell Damien Hirst climbed into the #4 spot. In 2006, he sat in the 58th position, with auction sales of $16.8 million. He moved up to 17th in 2007, with $76 million sales, thanks in large part to Lullaby Spring (which someone is probably viewing as a regrettable purchase right now). ArtPrice's Damien Hirst index is up 1,400 percent since 1998. Last year, Hirst's September stunt – in which he bypassed the gallery network and worked directly with an auctioneer – contributed to the high tally. It didn't hurt that he unloaded 218 pieces almost immediately before the art market collapsed.

Tags: andy warhol, AndyWarhol, bacon, claude monet, ClaudeMonet, damien hirst, DamienHirst, degas, francis bacon, FrancisBacon, gerhard richter, GerhardRichter, hirst, pablo picasso, PabloPicasso, picasso, warhol

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just me Mar 23rd 2009 12:37PM

Well, I think you can expect Hirst to fall this year. More surprising is Fontana and Yves Klein, I would have thought Close or Kelly or some pop artist would have been in front of them. Interesting. And where are the Chinese and Kapoor?