Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer, Christie’s:
“In 2022, despite a challenging macro-environment, Christie’s has achieved our highest ever global sales. Three factors explain this performance: the resilience of the art and luxury markets, the remarkable success of several major art collections— including the unforgettable Paul Allen sale— and the expertise and hard work of our teams around the world.”
Christie’s Key Take-Aways From 2022
1. Christie’s expert global team delivers highest annual total in art market history
$8.4B (+17% in USD) / £7B (+34% in GBP) / HK$68.1B (+22% in HK$)
2. Paul G. Allen’s landmark sale achieved $1.62B to become the most valuable collection sale of all time,
5 works sold above $100M, thousands of visitors to worldwide tour, 4M online viewers
3. The most valuable 20th Century artwork was sold by Christie’s in 2022: Andy Warhol’s
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn for $195M – the second highest price ever achieved for an artwork at auction
4. 7 of the top 10 lots sold at Christie's
5. Christie’s sold the top 3 Collections of 2022, Allen ($1.62B), Ammann ($359.2M), Bass ($363.1M) as well as the top collection sold this year outside of the US, Hubert de Givenchy Collectionneur (€118.1M) in Paris
6. Superior sell-through rate of 85% for all lots at auction, affirms strong performance for Christie’s clients
7. Business and competition driven by new generation of collectors: 35% of all buyers in 2022 are new to Christie’s, and 34% of these new buyers are millennials (up from 31% in 2021); APAC has fastest growing base of new collectors
8. Launch of Christie’s Ventures – new investment fund to support early-stage Web 3.0, Technology and FinTech companies with direct relevance to Christie’s art and luxury goods business
9. Private Sales remain at a high level, exceeding the $1.2B (£1B) mark, the 3rd highest consecutive total ever for the platform and up 49% since pre-pandemic levels in 2019
Full press release attached.
About Christie’s
Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business. Renowned and trusted for its expert live and online auctions, as well as its bespoke private sales, Christie’s offers a full portfolio of global services to its clients, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s has a physical presence in 46 countries, throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. It also is the only international auction house authorized to hold sales in mainland China (Shanghai).
Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $200 to over $100 million. Christie’s has sold 8 of the 10 most important single-owner collections in history, including the Paul G. Allen Collection—the most valuable collection ever offered at auction (November 2022). In recent years, Christie’s has achieved the world record price for an artwork at auction (Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, 2017), for a 20th century artwork (Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, 2022) and for a work by a living artist (Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, 2019).
Christie’s Private Sales offers a seamless service for buying and selling art, jewellery and watches outside of the auction calendar, working exclusively with Christie’s specialists at a client’s individual pace.
Recent innovations at Christie’s include the groundbreaking sale of the first NFT for a digital work of art ever offered at a major auction house (Beeple’s Everydays, March 2021), with the unprecedented acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. As an industry leader in digital innovation, Christie’s also continues to pioneer new technologies that are redefining the business of art, including use of hologram technology to tour life-size 3D objects around the world, and the creation of viewing and bidding experiences that integrate augmented reality, global livestreaming, buy-now channels, and hybrid sales formats.
Christie’s is dedicated to advancing responsible culture throughout its business and communities worldwide, including achieving sustainability by reducing our carbon emissions by 50% and pledging to be net zero by 2030, and actively using its platform in the art world to amplify under-represented voices and support positive change.
Browse, bid, discover, and join us for the best of art and luxury at: www.christies.com or by downloading Christie’s apps. The COVID-related re-opening status of our global locations is available here.