For the second year in a row, public auction operators in France experienced a complicated year, marked by a global crisis, but also illuminated by some remarkable collections.
Continuing from the previous year with a rather anxiety-provoking international economic and political context, 2024 will not have been a great year overall for auction houses in France, displaying rather downward results, some times stable, more rarely bullish.
Christie’s returns to the lead
However, we observe little upheaval in the national ranking (see table below), apart from the resumption of national market leadership by Christie’s over its historic competitor Sotheby’s. This has little to do with it: the Barbier-Mueller collection of African and Oceanian art raised 73 million euros, a record in the specialty. This sum alone explains the increase of almost a quarter of Christie’s turnover. Note that the results of the auction house could be revised slightly downwards, because the 26.7 million euros of auction recorded on June 12 for the painting The Melon started de Chardin are not…
