For over a year now, the art market has been struggling. Galleries are suffering, especially small and medium-sized ones, which will not be able to stand still indefinitely. The fairs suffer from the general gloom and depend on the arrival, or not, of very wealthy clients who make rain or shine on the market. And auction houses, despite the internationalization of their panel of buyers, accelerated by the digitalization of communication and sales themselves, have difficulty finding beautiful works, the famous “flagships” which draw the walked upwards. We are indeed witnessing a pendulum swing. The two years following the peak of the Covid pandemic, 2021 and 2022, had recorded records because sales suspended during confinements were all scheduled at the same time. Marked by the Israeli conflict, 2023 was the year of “return to earth”. So 2024 was very difficult.
Figures generally decreasing
Christie’s World announces total sales of $57.7 billion, a contraction of 6%. And if the figure of €382 million for its French branch is up 23% and allows the house to return to the top step of the French podium, it is not thata partial recovery from the 36% drop recorded the previous year. Same scenario for Aguttes, which shows +23% including Brussels and +15% limiting itself to France, but compared to a bad year 2023 (- 45%). In our Top Ten France, Sotheby’s, Artcurial, Bonhams, Ader and Tajan are in decline.
Magritte’s Empire of Lights sold for $121 million on November 19 at Christie’s in New York. © Christie’s Images LTD. 2024
However, there are some good results due to an energetic development strategy. Those of the Millon house, which is developing internationally and holding up in France, even without counting the sales it makes for Crédit Municipal. And those of Osenat, which, in addition to its historic location in Fontainebleau, has developed a house in Versailles and opened a sales room in Paris.
Necessary diversification
If it is difficult to “source” major works, we must diversify. This is what the houses are doing, some launching new specialties (Sports, collectible alcohols, even real estate, etc.), others focusing on luxury, like Sotheby’s, for which part of the first floor of its new Parisian premises is dedicated to branded bags, jewelry and watches, favorite objects of millennials.
On October 12, Sotheby’s inaugurated its new Parisian flagship on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. © Sotheby’s / Ruiz
The success of private sales
But one of the highlights of the year is the boom in private sales, where the auction house serves as an intermediary and the price remains confidential. And their variant, fixed price sales, where the price is displayed in a configuration that resembles that of galleries or luxury boutiques. This is particularly the case at Sotheby’s, which considers that offering Hermès bags or Rollex “to take away” allows their customers, and especially young and new ones, to leave with the object of their dreams without waiting for scheduled sales. weeks or months later.
Rolex Daytona « Paul Newman », Ref. 6262 « Dark Chocolate Dial », €705,399 © Aguttes
The big houses communicate on their private sales. Christie’s World announces that they totaled $1.5 billion this year, a figure up 41%. While Sotheby’s released the figure for its private sales in France: no less than €75.5 million, or more than a quarter of its auction activity. 100% French houses practice private sales with much more moderation: 8.5% of the product sold in 2023, and we are waiting for the 2024 figure.
Emerald ring of 35,274 ct. diamonds. 4.00, sold for €1,674,000, Il Ponte, Milan © Millon
To avoid ending on too negative a note, let us point out that end-of-year sales benefited from a certain improvement. And that on the Drouot side, too quickly buried, the results are rather good. The Parisian auction house even attracts new young auctioneers, who often develop niche specialties.
TOP 10 in France
Sales of “art and collectibles” in France, buyers’ fees included
- Christie’s : 382M€ ▲ + 23% (without private sales)
- Sotheby’s : 287M€ ▼ -31% (without €75.5M in private sales)
- Artcurial : 149,1M€ ▼ -16% (Without private sales, the €3M from Morocco, the €19M from Monaco nor the €15.5M made in Switzerland with Beurret Bailly Widmer)
- Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr : 97,7M€ -8,7%
- Millon : 71,3M€ ▲ + 2% (Paris + Nice, but without the €34.7 million from Milan nor the sales made with Crédit Municipal de Paris)
- Work : 61M€ ▲ +9% (Without the €4M from Brussels)
- Aguttes : 54,7M€ ▲+15% (without the €4M of cars sold in Brussels)
- Osenate : 50,3M€ ▲+ 25% (Fontainebleau + Versailles + Paris, with 50% of Napoleon’s pistols sold for €1.7M with Rossini)
- Ader : 47M€ ▼ -16% (without Ader Entreprises et Patrimoine)
- Secret : 28,5M€ ▼ -20%
Attention, Fragile! At Sotheby’s Salon in Paris
