The worldwide art market has continued to grow through the economic crisis, with sales reaching 16.1 billion dollars in 2014, an increase of 12.1 per cent on 2013, a leading trade website reported Monday in Berlin.
Works by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso top the list of most lucrative sales with a combined total of 1.1 billion dollars, followed by Francis Bacon with 306 million and Germany’s Gerhard Richter with 294 million, Artnet international art market platform reported.
The art market saw its biggest increases in Britain with an annual rise of 35.3 per cent over 2013, and the United States with 20.1-per-cent growth.
In Germany, 277 million dollars worth of art was sold in 2014, compared to 265 million dollars in 2013, an increase of 4.5 per cent.
The most expensive work last year was Alberto Giacometti’s bronze scuplture Chariot which was auctioned for 101 million dollars in New York. Next was Barnett Newman’s oil painting Black Fire I at 84.2 million dollars and Andy Warhol’s Triple Elvis (Ferus Type) at 81.9 million dollars.
GNA