Contacts
Expansion, resilience and transformation define the global art system, where the value of artwork is a multidimensional prism: not just financial, but also cultural, social and historical, reflecting the complexities of our time

Developed intensively in recent decades, in terms of the number of actors, volumes, variety and functions of the institutional apparatus and articulated on a global basis, the art system is an organism characterized by structural complexity and a peculiar capacity to change rapidly and at the same time be resilient in its deepest lines.

As we highlight in an our recent contribution (Marta Equi Pierazzini, Laura Forti, Il mercato globale dell’arte, in ll diritto e la fiscalità dei mercati internazionali dell'arte, Wolters Kluver, 2024), the art market as we know it today has its roots in the second half of the 19th century, in Paris, with the transition from the predominant role of the Academies of Fine Arts and the associated official salons to a system centered on the cultural sensibility and commercial strategies of galleries. If the first three decades of the 20th century saw the opening of major museums (MoMa, Guggenheim and Whitney in New York, for example) and the growing importance of the American market, the ‘70s saw the birth of art fairs, central players in the art world. But it is only since the 2000s that the system has undergone a radical expansion.

In 20 years, from 2000 to 2020, the number of auction houses has doubled (from 467 to 843), contemporary artists in auctions have increased from 5,400 to 32,000, and the total auction turnover for contemporary art has risen from $92 million to almost $2 billion (Artprice 2020). Art fairs have become increasingly common, growing since 2000 up to a peak of 359 in 2023 (McAndrews 2024). The system obviously underwent a setback during the pandemic years, with a decline in the number of live events and sales, but it is showing signs of steep recovery and adaptation, with the added legacy of a significant development of digital channels (Hiscox 2023).

Today, the current market is estimated at $65 billion, with the dealer sector accounting for $36 billion and the auction sector accounting for $29 billion. Following a trend that has been consolidating since the early 2000s, post-war and contemporary art has emerged as the most relevant segment. Painting remains the most traded medium, with China, the United States and the United Kingdom as the principal markets (McAndrews 2024).

At the core of the global art market are artistic practices and research. It is an environment that performs the peculiar action of valuing the unique (Karpik 2010): it trades in artistic goods. These are not just commodities, but multidimensional prisms endowed with different agencies, often performing important critical and political role in our societies, characterized by incommensurability, uncertain quality and multidimensionality.

The multidimensionality of the value of an artistic good is conventionally represented (and only partially captured) by the price. This is the result of an ambiguous and collective process of valorization and judgement, obtained through a common dialogue and interaction between traditional commercial and cultural actors. 

The art system is a world in which art is produced, thought about, desired, sought after. And also judged, valued, promoted and protected. And where, ultimately, the conditions are created for practices, research, subjectivities and questions to be seen, debated and consigned to history.

Opinions