The price of bananas has never been so high. On November 20, the one that the artist Maurizio Cattelan had stuck to the wall in 2019 with silver adhesive tape fetched $6.2 million (5.9 million euros) at Sotheby’s. The opportunity for its new owner, Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun, to gain global publicity at a low cost. Two days earlier, the buzz was of a completely different nature: a painting by René Magritte (1898-1967), The Empire of Lights, sold for 121 million dollars (around 114 million euros), joined the small circle of works priced at nine figures.
In 2024, Cattelan and Magritte are doing well, the rest of the market much less so. Auction houses have not yet closed their end-of-year accounts, but very strong contractions are expected.
The report published in October by the Art Basel fair and the bank UBS already gave the trend: in the first half of the year, sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips and Bonhams had fallen by 26% compared to 2023, an already fairly gloomy year. “The Americans had put the brakes on while waiting for the elections, China is experiencing a major crisis with a new generation who spends their money differently”explains modern art broker Thomas Seydoux.
In Paris, which shines brightly since the installation of large foreign galleries and the Art Basel fair, the auctions were also laborious. The highest sale in France goes to Visitor with blue hat, by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), sold for 6.8 million euros at Sotheby’s this fall, when the year 2023 crowned a Miro dated 1949, sold for 20.7 million euros. “We came out of two almost irrational years in 2021 and 2022, it’s normal that there is an adjustment”puts Aurélie Vandevoorde, co-director of the modern and contemporary art department at Sotheby’s, into perspective.
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