Christie's clocks $8.4 billion sales in 2022 – highest in art market history

Auction house Christie’s has ended 2022 with global sales of $8.4 billion – the highest annual sales in art market history. It is a 17 per cent increase over its sales last year. The auction house broke several records this year including selling an Andy Warhol (Shot Sage Blue Marilyn) for $195 million – the second highest price ever achieved for an artwork at auction. Microsoft co-founder Paul G Allen’s art collection was sold for $1.62 billion, making it the most valuable collection sale of all time, with five works selling for over a $100 million each.  

While the maximum buyers continue to be from the Americas (40 per cent), Asia Pacific contributes 26 per cent of all buyers. Thirty-five per cent of all buyers were new to Christie’s with APAC having the fastest-growing base of new collectors.  

“In 2022, despite a challenging macro-environment, Christie’s has achieved our highest-ever global sales. Three factors explain this performance: the resilience of the art and luxury markets, the remarkable success of several major art collections— including the unforgettable Paul Allen sale— and the expertise and hard work of our teams around the world,” says Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer, Christie’s. 

A reflection of the ongoing international buying at auction, regardless of the location of the sale, spend from American buyers in non-US salerooms was up 10 per cent, EMEA buyers spend was up 71 per cent and APAC buyers spend was up 49 per cent. Sales growth was driven by masterpiece lots (works over $5 million), with sales at this level up 84 per cent on 2021. New buyers from mainland China continued to engage in global salerooms, accounting for the highest global spending of new buyers from APAC. 

In APAC new buyers increased by 9 per cent attracted by sales of Asian and World Art and most significantly Luxury. Luxury remains the number one recruiter of new clients, accounting for 36 per cent of new buyers, up 18 per cent in 2021. Millennials continue to drive and reshape Christie’s global business, representing 21 per cent of global buyers. Of the spend from millennials, in Christie’s global salerooms in 2022, 62 per cent came from millennials in APAC. 

Millennials are more likely to transact digitally and the business has adapted and innovated accordingly. Christie’s has improved its digital reach and draws a new generation of collectors on TikTok, WeChat, Red and Instagram, meeting and engaging with clients where they are spending their time. 

Christie’s launched Christie’s 3.0, a blockchain platform earlier in the year. After two sales on the platform, it is clear buyers are confident to bid and artists keen to sell via this first-of-a-kind digital saleroom. As the market for NFTs continues to be tested amidst the volatility of the broader crypto market, Christie’s sold 87 NFT lots this year across all platforms for a total of $5.9 million from artists such as Diana Sinclair, Mad Dog Jones and Fewocious. Top NFT lot of the year was Refik Anadol’s NFT sculpture Living Architecture: Casa Batlló which sold (at live auction) for $1.4 million. 

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