The Contemporary Art Market has experienced exceptional growth in the 21st century. From a total of $103 million in 2000/2001, the segment generated $2.3 billion in 2022/2023, i.e. 22 times more. The 12-month period that this report looks at (1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023), posted the 4th best- ever historical performance in terms of auction turnover, and the highest transaction volume ever recorded with more than 123,000 Contemporary art lots sold at auction around the world. In short, the Contemporary art market has evermore lots on offer, by evermore artists, and they are being acquired by evermore collectors.

Faced with a whole host of political, economic and ecological challenges, the Contemporary art market has demonstrated remarkable resilience. Not only are the pillars of this market perfectly solid – Jean-Michel Basquiat and Takashi Murakami for example – but sales in this segment are more frequent than ever.

The incredible vitality of the Contemporary Art Market is clearly visible in the record volume of transactions, even higher than in the post-Covid rebound a year earlier. In 22/23, the global Contemporary art market exchanged an absolute record number of artworks: more than 123,000. This is an exceptional volume, twice that observed ten years ago, and 100 times that observed at the beginning of the 2000s. Exchanges accelerated considerably on artworks offered for less than $5,000. In fact, this price segment is the most buoyant on the market, with nearly 99,000 Contemporary artworks exchanged, i.e. three times higher than a decade ago and, above all, a new peak for the auction market!