Despite economic and political turmoil in 2022, the global art market has shown resilience. Global art sales have increased to $67.8bn, up from $50.3bn in 2020 and a 3% year-on-year increase from $65.9bn in 2021. The outlook is optimistic across all sectors for 2023, noted the seventh edition of the .

“While we continued to face economic challenges in 2022 with inflation staying high, rising interest rates and the fall of growth expectations, collectors demonstrated a steady pursuit for art with global sales up by 3%,” said Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS global wealth management. “In the context of the global economy, 2023 will be a year of inflections as we navigate turning points for inflation, interest rates, economic growth, and financial markets all up against a complex global geopolitical backdrop.”

“Enthusiastic return” in 2023

77% of the high net worth collectors surveyed by Art Economics and UBS are positive about the global art market outlook, with 55% saying they plan to buy art in 2023.

“Businesses at the higher end performed significantly better than the rest of their peers, creating a denser concentration at the top and leaving hierarchies unchanged. The post-pandemic art market has significantly changed in other ways though,” said Clare McAndrew, founder of the research and consulting firm Arts Economics.

“New working practices have emerged after the crisis, boundaries between traditionally distinct segments have continued to blur, and there has been an accelerated shift to online sales, which, despite moderating in 2022, appears to have permanently settled at a higher level alongside the enthusiastic return to a fuller schedule of events,” said McAndrew.

Here are some key takeaways from the report.

Global sales up to $67.8bn

2022 began with optimism and was expected to be the year when the art market would return to a more “regular momentum,” stated the report. While overall global sales increased by 3% year-on-year, there were variations by sector, region and segment, resulting in “more muted growth” than was expected, due in part to political and economic instability, Russia’s war in Ukraine or high inflation.

Although the US and the UK posted positive results, the Chinese market was, for example, heavily impacted by tight zero-covid policies that led to the cancellations of many events and auctions. Global sales, therefore, increased by “just” 3% year-on-year to reach $67.8bn, said the report. In comparison, between 2021 and 2022, there was an increase of 31% in sales.

US one of strongest markets in 2022

The United States remained the leader in the global art market, with its share of sales by value increasing from 43% in 2021 to 45% in 2022. The UK took second place, with 18% of sales, followed by China, which dropped to third place with 17% of sales in 2022. France kept its fourth place position, with 7% of sales. The European Union, as a whole, saw 12% of global sales last year.

The US market is supported by “healthy local demand and supply,” noted the report. The country has the largest base of high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals, and is the main global hub for the art trade--the most expensive artworks are brought to New York to be sold.

France also saw growth in sales last year (4%), bringing the market to a new peak of just under $5 bn--its highest level so far, said the report.

Post-war, contemporary and modern art sectors account for 76% of sales

Artworks in the post-war and contemporary sector made up the largest sector of the fine art auction market in 2022, with $7.8bn of sales (54% of global sales). A notable trend that is mentioned in the report is the large disparity between presale estimates and the prices for which artworks are finally sold--several artworks last year sold for many times their presale estimates.

According to the report, recent growth in sales is due to the multimillion-dollar lots sold at major auction houses in New York. Last year, one of these lots included Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964), which was sold in May 2022 for $195m.

Link to Luxembourg

Several of 2022’s high-selling lots came from the Paul Allen sale held at Christie’s in New York in November 2022. Lucien Freud’s Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) (1981-83), for instance, sold for $86.2m. In fact, Allen’s collection sold for more than $1.6bn in total last year, making it the highest-value auction of all time, noted the report.

Though not part of the post-war and contemporary sector, a photograph taken by the Luxembourgish-American artist Edward Steichen that was part of the Allen collection . The 1904 photograph, which features New York’s iconic Flatiron building, is the second-most expensive photograph ever sold. Man Ray’s Violon d’Ingres, which was sold at Christie’s in May 2022 for $12.4m, holds the record.

During the Allen sale, Georges Seurat’s Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite Version) (1888) sold for $149.2m, Paul Cezanne’s La Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1888-1890) sold for $137.8m, Vincent van Gogh’s Verger avec Cyprès (1888) went for $117.2m, Paul Gauguin’s Maternité II (1899) for $105.7m and Gustav Klimt’s Birch Forest (1903) sold for $104.6m. All of these sales set price records for these artists, noted the report.

Online sales drop to $11bn

Online sales are those that occur without an in-person viewing or presale contact, and take place via galleries, dealers and auction houses on websites, online platforms or via email. In 2020, online sales reached a “historic peak” of $12.4bn, with the covid-19 pandemic preventing in-person events from taking place. Online sales increased 7% to reach $13.3bn in 2021, then dropped 17% from the 2021 peak to reach $11bn in 2022.

But despite the increased use of online channels, 93% of survey respondents said it was important (42%) or very important (51%) to see an artwork in person before purchasing it.

Most live art fairs held in Europe

53% of the live art fairs that were held in 2022 took place in Europe--12% occurred in the UK and 10% in France. 24% were held in the US and 9% in Asia. Dealers who were surveyed, however, noted their concern with increasing costs, both of the fairs themselves and higher travel expenses.

The report found that sustaining relationships with clients remained the number one priority amongst dealers in 2022 (65%), followed by art fairs (45%), online sales (36%), widening geographical reach (27%) and current artists’ exhibitions (22%).

Sales of art-related NFTs reached $2.9bn in 2021

Platforms that sell art-related NFTs outside the art market have surged. As these transactions take place outside galleries, dealers and auction houses, they are not accounted for in the figures included in the report.

The report noted, however, that the sales of art-related NFTs have skyrocketed, from $605,000 in 2019 to $20m in 2020 to $2.9bn in 2021, thanks to high liquidity, ease of access and instant tradability. Although the market “cooled substantially” in 2022 as the price of Ethereum fell, overall sales of art-related NFTs reached nearly $1.5bn last year.

The secondary market now accounts for 80% of the value of sales of art-related NFTs. According to the report, this demonstrates that reselling, instead of creating, is now the dominant activity on these platforms.

Female artist representation remains lower than that of male artists

The share of female artists represented by galleries was 39%, found the report, up two percentage points from 37% in 2021. Their representation in the primary market – which is when an artwork is sold for the first time – is higher than in the secondary market. The secondary market is where works of art are resold.

Given the underrepresentation of women in art history, it is “unsurprising” that dealers who only operate in the secondary market had the lowest share of female artists overall (16%), noted the report.

Read the full Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2023 .