Christies lead as global art market posts seventh consecutive revenue gain

China now third largest market for art auction sales

Much like the Canadian art market for the past eleven years, the global art market has posted its seventh consecutive overall rise in revenue this past year according to figures released recently by artprice. Christie’s retained their market leadership generating 38.7% of the world’s art sales, with Sotheby’s close behind at 36%.

New York remained the number one city in the world for art auction sales enjoying 41.7% market share, while London came in second at 30%, a gain of 2% on the previous year’s total. France, traditionally third overall lost its place in 2007 to China, the world’s newest market which generated 7.3% of world sales to France’s 6.4%. China’s rise is all the more impressive when you realise that their sales rose an incredible 78% over the previous year. Word is that China has the capability of one day becoming the world’s leading art auction market, replacing New York and London. Hard to imagine, but not impossible.