Brazilian Contemporary Artists in the Main International Auction Houses, from 2014 to 2024

Brazilian Contemporary Artists in the Main International Auction Houses, from 2014 to 2024

This paper updates an ongoing study by including one more year of data. The general purpose is to investigate the presence of Brazilian contemporary artists with works auctioned at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips, in London and New York. Descriptive analysis shows that 2024 was a good year for number of sales, with more lots sold than in recent previous years (64 vs 45 in 2023), albeit an increasing bought-in rate (24% vs 15% in 2023) and a decreasing trend in prices (average USD59,708 vs USD110,451 in 2023; total USD3,821,334 vs USD4,970,299 in 2023). Differences between sexes persists, with fewer females (33 vs 64) who nonetheless outperform their male peers (average price USD236,143 vs USD56,739; total sold USD33,768,398 vs USD24,851,700). Breaking down data into artists’ decade of birth indicates that artists born in the ‘60s are suffering mostly from the downturn of the market, whereas those from the ‘70s are not so affected. Those from the ‘40s and ‘80s are on an upward trend, but those from the ‘50s seem to have stagnated. Despite the downward trend in sales, the ‘60s generation of Brazilian artists dominates this specific market, both in number of artists (28), number of works auctioned (480), and price achieved (average USD116,995; total USD40,597,386).