Artprice: Basquiat breaks auction record at US USD 110 million, a true economic indicator for the Art Market

Basquiat's 1982 Untitled painting was purchased for US$19,000 in 1984 – thirty-three years later, it sold for 5,800 times the amount. Yesterday's stunning US$110 million record is also the newest record price for the young graffiti artist who was born in the Bronx and signed his works “Samo” (Same old shit).

The fact that the buyer is Japanese proves not only that Basquiat is recognized internationally but also that the Art Market is unequivocally global!

According to thierry Ehrmann, the CEO and founder of Artprice: “the Art Market's structure is undergoing significant changes in 2017 – with the shortage in Old Masters that is progressively spreading to Modern Art, Contemporary Art is becoming the new key economic indicator and it is meant to grow exponentially, as Artprice had pointed it out in one of its reports.”

Basquiat is now one the very few (7) artists whose works crossed the 100 million dollar threshold at auctions: Picasso, Modigliani, Bacon, Giacometti, Munch, Warhol – and Basquiat, now. He was only 27 years old when he died and would be 56 today, which makes him the only contemporary artist in this very small circle! Taking into account all the parameters, this points to a true economic indicator, significant, with a Contemporary Art performance unprecedented in the Art Market.

What makes the new record hammer price even more striking is that it has topped the one set just last year at US$57.3 million – with very different artworks at stake: Basquiat's painting measures 72 1/8 x 68 1/8 in. when the one that elicited last year's record measured 94 x 197 in. (183 x 173 cm vs. 238 x 500 cm).

In 2016, Basquiat ranked 7th in Artprice's top 500 ranking. US$100 invested in 2000 in a work by Jean-Michel BASQUIAT would be worth an average of US$1,098 (+998%) in April 2017 (econometric source: Artprice).

Jean-Michel Basquiat's Index by Artprice – Base 100 in January 2000

US$100 invested in 2000 in a work by Jean-Michel BASQUIAT would be worth an average of US$1,098 (+998%) in April 2017

Go to Actusnews PDF for Baquiat' prices

A spectacular week has just come to an end. It has proved prolific in indications about the Art Market's strengths in 2017. Jean-Michel BASQUIAT's extraordinary US$110 million record is undoubtedly the week's key moment. Beyond that, this week has shown that collectors want museum quality pieces – but rareness is their top priority. The Art market is back on track.

Evening sales during week 20 of 2017

 
Christie's
Sotheby's


Impressionist et Modern Art
US$289 million
US$174 million


Postwar and Contemporary Art
US$450 million
US$319 million

www.artprice.com Copyright thierry Ehrmann 1987/2017

About Artprice:

Artprice is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.

Artprice is the global leader in art price and art index databanks. It has over 30 million indices and auction results covering more than 647,000 artists. Artprice Images(R) gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in the world: a library of 126 million images or prints of artworks from the year 1700 to the present day, along with comments by Artprice's art historians.

Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 4,500 auctioneers and it publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the world's principal news agencies and approximately 7,200 international press publications. For its 4,500,000 members, Artprice gives access to the world's leading Standardised Marketplace for buying and selling art. Artprice is preparing its blockchain for the Art Market. It is BPI-labelled (scientific national French label).

Artprice's Global Art Market Annual Report for 2016:

 http://imgpublic.artprice.com/pdf/rama2016_en.pdf

The text presented hereafter is a translation of Arte Creative's online presentation:

ARTE: A gigantic Christmas tree in the guise of a butt plug, a machine that defecates five-star meals, an icon immersed in urine and staged corpses – subversive, trash, provocative or insulting? Thierry Ehrmann, the man behind The Abode of Chaos dixit "The New York Times", an artist and the founder of Artprice, is the mouthpiece for scandal and discloses the workings of the most striking controversies in contemporary art. And scandal sells. 9 episodes are online:

http://www.arte.tv/guide/en/weekly-highlight

Discover the Alchemy and the universe of Artprice http://web.artprice.com/video, which headquarters are the famous Museum of Contemporary Art, the Abode of Chaos http://goo.gl/zJssdhttps://vimeo.com/124643720

News Artmarket:

http://twitter.com/artpricedotcom https://www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom

https://www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom

https://plus.google.com/+Artpricedotcom/posts

http://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/

The Contemporary Arts Museum The Abode of Chaos on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999

The Abode of Chaos/Demeure du Chaos Contemporary Art Museum by thierry Ehrmann,author, sculptor, artist, photograph https://www.flickr.com/photos/home_of_chaos/sets/72157676803169034

Contact : thierry Ehrmann : e-mail : [email protected]

Source: Actusnews