The works of great artists buoyed the art market last year, and none did more than Leonardo da Vinci, whose Salvator Mundi sold to great fanfare for $450-million (about R5.3-billion) in New York in November.
Global art sales grew 12% to about $63.7-billion after two years of falling sales, said a new report published by UBS and Art Basel.
That still fell short of the record of more than $68-billion set in 2014 and below the $66-billion fetched in 2007 before the art market plummeted in the financial crisis.
"Industry-wide gains were driven by sales at the top end of the market," said cultural economist Clare McAndrew, who wrote the report.
Over the past decade, auction sales have fallen for works priced under $1-million, making investment purchases a risky bet for the lower- and middle-price segments.
But purchases of ultra-expensive artworks soared in value, with the study finding a 148% increase in total sales value of works sold for more than $10-million at auction over the past 10 years, and a 125% increase over just one year.
Indeed, the study found that just 1% of artists whose works were offered at auction accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total auction sales.
Gains were driven by sales at the top end of the market
Art experts remain wary of speculative purchases at a time when the world's wealthy, waylaid by political and economic uncertainty, are eager to place cash.
The research indicates that, like wealth - half of which remained in the hands of the top 1% in 2017 - the art market is top heavy.
The Salvator Mundi painting was only recently rediscovered after being sold at auction for £45, attributed to one of Da Vinci's students, in 1958.
Art dealers took a gamble on the damaged and partially covered work, paying $10000 in 2005 before restoring and verifying it for an $80-million resale in 2013. It was flipped to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for $127-million later that same year.
Last year also set a new record for the late American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose untitled painting sold to Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa for $110.5-million in May. A work by Roy Lichtenstein fetched $165-million in a private sale.
"Away from this premium segment, performance was not all positive, with many businesses coming under pressure," McAndrew said.
"This divergence in performance is a continuing concern, particularly as the majority of employment and ancillary spending comes from the very many other businesses in the art trade below the top tier."
The largest art markets were also those with the most millionaires, with the five largest markets accounting for two-thirds of the world's millionaire population.
Research by UBS, which banks half the world's billionaires, found a growing engagement with art among the world's richest. In a survey conducted with the bank's US clients, the world's largest wealth manager found that more than a third of the high-net-worth individuals - or those with personal assets over $1-million - were active in the art and collectables market.
Reuters
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