Art market banking on new generation of collectors
Some big transactions were concluded last week during Art Basel, the world's top contemporary art fair, notably by London's Annely Juda Fine Art gallery, which sold a David Hockney painting for between $13 million and $17 million, without disclosing the exact price.
The David Zwirner gallery sold a sculpture by Ruth Asawa for $9.5 million and a Gerhard Richter painting for $6.8 million.
However, prices did not reach the heights achieved in 2022, when the art market was in full swing. Back then, a sculpture by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois was purchased for $40 million.
"The market is certainly softer," Art Basel's chief executive Noah Horowitz told AFP, though major sales still happen at such fairs "despite, somehow, all that's going on in the world".
Switzerland's biggest bank UBS and the research and consulting firm Arts Economics prepared a report for the fair.
According to their estimates, the art market slowed in 2023, then fell by 12 percent globally in 2024, to $57.5 billion, with the decline particularly affecting works valued at more than $10 million.
"In the next six to 12 months, I don't see any changes on the horizon," said Hans Laenen, an art market specialist at insurer AXA XL.
In a time of economic and geopolitical uncertainties, "investors are turning very strongly to gold", he told AFP.
In the art sector, behaviour is "more conservative" among both buyers and sellers, who prefer to wait before putting works on the market in the current climate, he continues.
"The number of transactions is increasing," but in "lower price segments," he noted.
According to the insurance firm Hiscox, the number of lots sold for less than $50,000 increased by 20 percent in auction houses in 2024, while very highly priced works saw a sharp drop, indicating a change in collector behaviour.
New generation
According to Jean Gazancon, chief executive of art insurer Arte Generali, a younger generation of collectors is entering the market.
"We are insuring more and more 30-somethings for collections of 300,000, 500,000, or a million euros," he noted.
"These are successful start-uppers, investment bankers, lawyers, or sometimes people who have inherited," and they begin their collections "very young", sometimes making "very radical" choices, he said.
UBS expects that trend to increase. According to its projections, an unprecedented wealth transfer will take place over the next 20 to 25 years with the general ageing of the population.
Globally, around $83 trillion in assets will change hands, it says, meaning "there's a whole new generation of collectors coming to the market with different buying patterns", said Eric Landolt, global co-head of the family advisory, art and collecting department at UBS.
The four-day Art Basel fair, which closed on Sunday, featured more than 280 galleries presenting works by around 4,000 artists.
It is a must for collectors, who can buy everything from Pablo Picasso paintings to very recent works.
The Thaddaeus Ropac galleries notably offered a portrait of Pope Leo XIV by the Chinese-French artist Yan Pei-Ming.
It also highlights young artists, such as Joyce Joumaa, 27, who jointly won the 2025 Baloise Art Prize for her work focusing on the energy crisis in Lebanon.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
15 minutes ago
- France 24
Paris Olympics and Paralympics cost taxpayer nearly 6 bn euros: state body
The organisation of the two sporting extravaganzas last summer cost 2.77 billion euros, which included 1.4 billion euros for security. A further 3.19 billion euros was spent on work linked to infrastructure projects. The Olympics ran from July 26 to August 11, while the Paralympics took place from August 28 to September 8, with organisers making the most of historic sites in central Paris, either as venues or the backdrop to the events. The Games were widely hailed as highly successful. The national audit body said there would be a "heightened interest" in the figures because France is also preparing to host the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. It is the first time actual figures have been announced, although the president of the national audit body, Pierre Moscovici, had in 2024 said they would cost the state "three, maybe four, five billion euros". Moscovici, a former French finance minister and European Union Commissioner, added that the real costs would only be known at the end of the Games. Until now only the costs of the local organising committee (COJO) of 4.4 billion euros, which represented a surplus of 76 million euros, have been made public. That figure came almost exclusively from private financing and from Solideo, the body responsible for delivering Olympic construction projects, which was in part publicly financed. A more detailled report will be published in October as other costs are not yet known. The body added that because of a lack of concrete information the figures did not include "the positive and negative impact the Games had on economic activity". It said however that the Games were "indisputably a success with the public and the media".
Euronews
3 hours ago
- Euronews
Europeans largely support hikes in national defence budget, poll finds
Support for increasing national defence spending appears widespread in Europe although most seem to think that becoming independent from the US when it comes to security and defence before the end of the decade is impossible, a major new survey has found. Most of the more than 16,400 respondents polled across 12 European countries by the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR) stated that they are in favour of their countries upping their national defence spending with clear majorities in Poland, Denmark, the UK, Estonia, and Portugal. Pluralities in Romania (50%), Spain (46%), France (45%), Hungary (45%), Germany (47%), and Switzerland (40%) also expressed support for increased defence spending with Italy the only country polled where the majority (57%) was either "somewhat" or "strongly" opposed the idea. Yet the poll also finds that scepticism over the EU's ability to become independent from the US in terms of its defence and security over the coming five years runs high. Only in Denmark and Portugal did a majority of respondents feel optimistic about achieving independence from the US before the turn of the decade. Most respondents in France and Romania also seemed to believe it is possible (44% and 45% respectively). But most people in Poland, Estonia, and Spain thought the reverse. In Italy and Hungary, a majority of respondents (54% and 51% respectively) see EU autonomy on security and defence as "very difficult" or "practically impossible" to achieve in the next five years. Germans were meanwhile more or less evenly split on the question, with 44% thinking it possible to achieve, and 45% seeing it as difficult or rather impossible. However, support to Ukraine is not contingent on continued aid from Washington, the survey finds. Majorities or pluralities in 11 of the 12 countries polled are against the idea of Europe withdrawing its military support for Ukraine, pushing Ukraine to give up on territory occupied by Russia, or lifting economic sanctions on Russia even if the US shifts its policy across these points. The Donald Trump effect The results are driven in part by Donald Trump's return to the White House and the anti-European rhetoric he and some in his administration have used over trade and defence which has given rise to anti-American sentiment in some European countries. Still, although a majority of people in 10 countries thought Trump is damaging the relationship between the EU and the US, most are of the opinion that the relationship will be repaired once he leaves office. The survey comes a day before leaders of the 32 NATO member states gather in The Hague for their annual summit. Trump has demanded that the alliance's defence spending target be raised from its current 2% of GDP level to 5%, and cast doubt on Washington's long-term support for European security. The proposal currently on the table plans for an increase to 3.5% on core military spending, with an additional 1.5% on defence-related investments that would include infrastructure, cybersecurity and money to boost a whole-of-society approach to security. Yet Spain has poured cold water over the new target, which has to be unanimously approved by all allies, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez writing in a letter to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last week that Madrid "cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP". "For Spain, committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive, as it would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the EU's ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defence ecosystem," Sánchez wrote in the letter that was seen by The Associated Press. The ECFR survey however notes that respondents in Spain were slightly more worried about their country not spending enough on defence, at the expense of their security than they were about spending too much on defence at the expense of other areas of public spending. The vast majority though did not pronounce themselves on the issue. In fact on this question, the 12 countries were evenly split, with Denmark, the UK, Poland, Romania, and Germany joining their Spanish counterparts and the other six countries favouring the other stance. The EU has sought to allay some of its fear with its programme to boost defence production and deployment that it hopes will prompt member states to invest €800 billion into the sector over the next four years. The plan's main financial firepower comes from allowing member states to deviate from the bloc's stringent fiscal rules provided the additional spending is poured exclusively into defence. The other pillar, called SAFE, would see the Commission provide loans to member states at preferential rates than most would if they raised the money themselves on the market. The EU executive is also allowing untapped EU funds previously earmarked for other programmes to be repurposed for defence spending. Defence should also be one of the key topics on the agenda of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Art market banking on new generation of collectors
Some big transactions were concluded last week during Art Basel, the world's top contemporary art fair, notably by London's Annely Juda Fine Art gallery, which sold a David Hockney painting for between $13 million and $17 million, without disclosing the exact price. The David Zwirner gallery sold a sculpture by Ruth Asawa for $9.5 million and a Gerhard Richter painting for $6.8 million. However, prices did not reach the heights achieved in 2022, when the art market was in full swing. Back then, a sculpture by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois was purchased for $40 million. "The market is certainly softer," Art Basel's chief executive Noah Horowitz told AFP, though major sales still happen at such fairs "despite, somehow, all that's going on in the world". Switzerland's biggest bank UBS and the research and consulting firm Arts Economics prepared a report for the fair. According to their estimates, the art market slowed in 2023, then fell by 12 percent globally in 2024, to $57.5 billion, with the decline particularly affecting works valued at more than $10 million. "In the next six to 12 months, I don't see any changes on the horizon," said Hans Laenen, an art market specialist at insurer AXA XL. In a time of economic and geopolitical uncertainties, "investors are turning very strongly to gold", he told AFP. In the art sector, behaviour is "more conservative" among both buyers and sellers, who prefer to wait before putting works on the market in the current climate, he continues. "The number of transactions is increasing," but in "lower price segments," he noted. According to the insurance firm Hiscox, the number of lots sold for less than $50,000 increased by 20 percent in auction houses in 2024, while very highly priced works saw a sharp drop, indicating a change in collector behaviour. New generation According to Jean Gazancon, chief executive of art insurer Arte Generali, a younger generation of collectors is entering the market. "We are insuring more and more 30-somethings for collections of 300,000, 500,000, or a million euros," he noted. "These are successful start-uppers, investment bankers, lawyers, or sometimes people who have inherited," and they begin their collections "very young", sometimes making "very radical" choices, he said. UBS expects that trend to increase. According to its projections, an unprecedented wealth transfer will take place over the next 20 to 25 years with the general ageing of the population. Globally, around $83 trillion in assets will change hands, it says, meaning "there's a whole new generation of collectors coming to the market with different buying patterns", said Eric Landolt, global co-head of the family advisory, art and collecting department at UBS. The four-day Art Basel fair, which closed on Sunday, featured more than 280 galleries presenting works by around 4,000 artists. It is a must for collectors, who can buy everything from Pablo Picasso paintings to very recent works. The Thaddaeus Ropac galleries notably offered a portrait of Pope Leo XIV by the Chinese-French artist Yan Pei-Ming. It also highlights young artists, such as Joyce Joumaa, 27, who jointly won the 2025 Baloise Art Prize for her work focusing on the energy crisis in Lebanon. © 2025 AFP
