Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • Contact Us
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • AMMpro

Don’t Be Confused, Picasso Market Has Room to Run

April 2, 2018 by Marion Maneker

Two weeks ago, we told AMMpro subscribers about the updraft in the Picasso market. For a number of different reasons, the Spanish master has become the driver of the broader art market. Yes, Picasso is always among the artists with the highest market volume. But that doesn’t mean his work cannot gain relative value.

This week The Art Newspaper follows with their own analysis. Their look combines interviews with commentators on the Gurr Johns buying spree (which is a sideshow to the real story and may be more symptom than cause) and some broader academic analysis by Roman Kraussl. The chart above is Kraussl’s which shows the volume of works (not dollar volume) and a price index (with little indication of the methodology behind the index.)

The Art Newspaper’s work shows that over the last 20 years there has been a broad-but-not-explosive six-fold rise in the average price of an Evening sale Picasso:

since 1998, the average price for an evening-sale Picasso has gone from around $1.2m to around $7.5m.

More important to the present market is the fact that, even with the record sale in 2015 of Femmes d’Algiers (Version ‘O’), the market has been starved for high quality work. What makes 2018 different from other years is not the presence of a market-topping work, even though one is possibly coming next month in the Rockefeller sale, but the number of work selling at higher values than before that already sold in London.

So the news from London isn’t the bulk buying of Gurr Johns’s client but the broad prices paid by a number of buyers, including the Gurr Johns client. There’s also the issue of market share which you can read more about in our London Impressionist and Modern auction analysis.

Read Our Picasso Report Here>>>>

More from Art Market Monitor

  • David Norman Talks Picasso with the FTDavid Norman Talks Picasso with the FT
  • Hirst’s Real Market HeistHirst’s Real Market Heist
  • Appreciating PicassoAppreciating Picasso
  • Painting to See His Name EverywherePainting to See His Name Everywhere
  • Fischl: It’s the Painting, Not the Price TagFischl: It’s the Painting, Not the Price Tag
  • Sotheby's Great Perino Del Vaga WeekSotheby's Great Perino Del Vaga Week
  • Print
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Artists

Advertise on Art Market Monitor with Nectar Ads

Top Posts

  • Frieze LA Sales Report
  • Sotheby's to Sell SFMoMA's $35m Rothko for Acquisitions Firepower
  • Sotheby's Celebrates Bauhaus's Centenary with 25 Works in Imp-Mod Sales
  • Early Gauguin Work Emerges at Sotheby's Paris After a Century in Same Family
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Podcast
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Artelligence Podcast: Selling Art in the Digital Age


  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • Art Loans
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise on Art Market Monitor