Cover Rubens’ paintings have generated US$54.7 million (around HK$429 million) at auction since the beginning of 2023 (Photo: AFP)
Rubens’ paintings have generated US$54.7 million (around HK$429 million) at auction since the beginning of 2023 (Photo: AFP)
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Prices can soar in the art market and some artists are considered more ‘bankable’ than others. Artnet’s latest report reveals the artists behind the most expensive artworks in the world this year
The online sales platform Artnet looked at the artists whose works sold best at auction between January 1 and May 30, 2023. It has ranked them according to their period of creation.
Peter Paul Rubens dominates the European Old Masters category. Six of his works were auctioned in the first six months of the year, four of which found buyers. These included Portrait of a Man as Mars, a canvas dating from the 1620s from the illustrious Fisch Davidson collection.
It sold for US$26.2 million (around HK$205 million) last March at Sotheby’s in London. This sum, however, failed to set a new sales record for the Flemish master (set at US$58 million, or around HK$455 million). Overall, Rubens’ creations generated US$54.7 million (around HK$429 million).
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Francisco Goya and Bronzino come second and third respectively in Artnet’s ranking of the most profitable artists in the European Old Masters category.
Thirty-two works by the Spanish painter and engraver have appeared on the market since the beginning of the year, compared with just one by Bronzino. This was Portrait of a Man with a Quill and a Sheet of Paper, Possibly a Self-Portrait of the Artist—a painting that was returned after being looted by Nazis. It fetched a record US$10.7 million (around HK$83 million) in January at Sotheby’s in New York.
To no big surprise, Pablo Picasso was the top-selling artist in the Impressionism and Modern Art category. The Spanish painter alone generated over US$272 million (around HK$2.1 billion) at auction, at a 91 per cent sell-through rate.
Proof, if any were needed, that his signature remains one of the most coveted, despite recent discourse alluding to controversies surrounding his life. René Magritte and Willem de Kooning follow Picasso on Artnet’s list in this category, where only one woman appears—American artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Her works have been auctioned for a total of US$43.3 million (around HK$340 million) since the beginning of the year.
Four women in the Ultra-Contemporary category
On the whole, few women are found on Artnet’s various rankings of the most bankable artists at auction, across all categories.
There are two in the list dedicated to Postwar art: Yayoi Kusama and Louise Bourgeois. The Japanese painter ranks second behind Gerhard Richter, while the Franco-American sculptor is in seventh place, ahead of Lucian Freud and Cy Twombly.
Cecily Brown was the only female artist to make it into the Contemporary Art ranking. She appears in third place, with total sales of US$33 million (around HK$259 million). Not enough to overtake Jean-Michel Basquiat (first place) and Yoshitomo Nara (second place), but enough to beat Banksy (fourth place). George Condo, Takashi Murakami and Keith Haring also made their mark.
Ultra-contemporary art, which has been on the rise for the past two years, also has its own preferred artists. Who are they? Matthew Wong (first place) and Jonas Wood (second place). The former continues to provoke bidding battles despite his untimely death in 2019 at the age of 35. All five paintings by this Canadian painter that have appeared on the market since the beginning of the year have been sold, for a total of over US$14 million (HK$110 million).
That’s half as much as the works of American Jonas Wood. Four women (Loie Hollowell, Caroline Walker, Shara Hughes and Ayako Rokkaku) appear in this category, which includes artists under 40.
Artnet’s various rankings of today’s most profitable artists can be consulted in the 2023 edition of the semi-annual Intelligence Report.
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