2022 art market performance: between shadow and light

Fireworks and opacity: those are the words which best summarize the art market and collectible results according to Deloitte Private, in the report, which was recently presented in Milan by Ernesto Lanzillo, Senior Partner and Leader at Deloitte Private, Barbara Tagliaferri, Art&Finance Coordinator of Deloitte Italia, Pietro Ripa, Private Banker Fideuram, and Roberta Ghilardi, Deloitte Sustainability Manager. Generally, the year 2022 was very positive, but the latest auctions, including the ones during the first months of 2023, have had a negative impact.

The year 2022 was marked by an improvement of the sector's turnover by 12% for the leading international auction houses (where paintings recorded a 20% increase), to which was added the impact of the Single owner collective sale, worth 2.6 billion dollars, encompassing the Paul G. Allen sale (1.6 billion dollars). Significant figures, to which other records are added: Andy Warhol's artwork "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" was sold at the New York Christie's auction for over 195 million dollars and was acquired by the gallerist Larry Gagosian. The artwork was bought at a significantly higher price than the most expensive artwork of 2021, the painting "Femme Assise Près d'une Fenêtre" (Woman Sitting by a Window, 1932) by Pablo Picasso, which was sold at 103 million dollars.

The "Passion" assets, encompassing handbags, sneakers, designer objects, watches, and wines, increased by 11.5% in 2022, with a new record for the Fancy Vivid diamond "Williamson Pink Star", over 11 carats, sold in Hong Kong at Sotheby's for 57 million dollars, extremely rare for its size. Phillips continues to shine in the watch department, as all the objects were sold, for the second consecutive year, while Christie's decided to create a new "Sneakers, Streetwear & Collectibles" department.

Some originals also marked the sector, including at Christie's, which celebrated alongside EON Production the James Bond movies' 60th anniversary, with 60 lots sold over two sessions, one physical and the other online, encompassing many different objects, such as cars, clothes seen in iconic scenes, and even watches and posters. Handbag auctions also boomed, among which the one of the Hermès Maison. "We witnessed a year characterized by record results for big market players, explains Ernesto Lanzillo, but which ended in a strong opacity regarding the immediate future due to the complexity of the economic scenario tied to the war in Ukraine, the record inflation and due to the latest consequences of the pandemic."

The expert Pietro Ripa added: "Art confirms to be an anticyclical asset, with very high volatility. For 2023, I expect an adjustment, rather than a potential crash." For Barbara Tagliaferri, 2022 is the year of consolidation for hybrid auctions, a "new normal" marked by resuming interest in modern and impressionist art, as well as the ultra-contemporary segment, including for young artists whose figurative and very colorful paintings attract a younger generation of collectors, sensitive to that which is "Instagram-able." It is precisely the reason why Roberta Ghilardi highlights: "Art evolves. Today, there is a growing awareness of how much culture can contribute to development, not only in economic and employment terms but also in terms of its capacity to create well-being for people, inclusion, and social cohesion."

2022 also marks the consolidation of big Western auction houses, reinforcing their international presence by opening new locations and creating new collaborations. New York confirms its place as the unequivocal art market capital, Paris is developing, and London is losing ground. In contrast, a certain craze has been noted in smaller markets: Phillips has announced investments in South Korea and Asia in general. Christie's has strengthened its structure in China, and Sotheby's has just announced the opening of new spaces in Hong Kong and launched a forum on digital arts in Saudi Arabia.

However, the race to NFT has slowed down: the market has been affected by the general economic downturn, specifically by the cryptocurrency market crisis, which followed the bankruptcy of FTX, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchange companies worldwide. This situation was mirrored in the volume of NFT traded in 2022. While in January, the Ethereum platform recorded a 5.6-billion-dollar amount of NFT traded with a 33% growth in June, volumes dropped by 60.1% vs. the previous month and continued to drop, while the number of daily transactions dropped by 82.2%.

All eyes are now turned toward the first semester of 2023 to see whether opacity will be the first red flag of a downturn or whether it is about an organic stabilization of the sector after this strong growth.