Art auction sales at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips over the next two weeks are expected to total $1.2 billion, down 18% from a year ago and nearly half the total for the May 2022 sales, according to ArtTactic.
It extends a recent decline for the art market from its post-Covid peak, when cheap money, a booming stock market and fiscal stimulus saw record sales.
It's the buyers showing up and what the work will sell for that will define our perception of the art market right now.
Price pressuresDealers and art experts say the auction art market is stalled over price, with sellers not willing to get a lower price than they might have gotten at the peak of the market in 2021-2022.
"The question they're asking is, 'Should we buy in to the art market right now?'"
Persons:
Robert Frank, Phillips, Paul Allen, Brooke Lampley, Buyers, Sellers, Philip Hoffman, CNBC's Robert Frank, Andy Warhol, Jean, Michel Basquiat, Crystal Lau, Andrew Fabricant, It's, Hoffman, Francis Bacon's, George Dyer, Bacon, Dyer, Michel Basquiat's
Organizations:
Sotheby's, Fine Art Group, CNBC Dealers, CNBC
Locations:
—, Gagosian