Romanian art market sees growth and consolidation in first part of 2024
<p>The first part of 2024 shows a consolidation of the Romanian art market, with growth trends in the frequency of public auctions, auction success rate, and turnover.</p>
<p>According to art auctioneer Artmark, the growth is visible in numbers, specifically in volume: +17% in public auctions, frequency: +7.5% in auction success rate, and turnover speed: +39.4% in private, in-store sales.</p>
<p>In 2024 so far, Artmark held auctions covering the entire spectrum of collecting passions through a diversity of themes, from plastic arts (classical Romanian, contemporary, and post-war Romanian art, sculpture from all times, European painting and graphics) to collectible watches &amp; cars, designer jewelry &amp; accessories, various decorative arts from silverware and author glassware to ceramics and author furniture, to history and sports memorabilia, collectible wines and whiskeys, and charity auctions.</p>
<p>With a total annual of EUR 10.23 million in public auctions (compared to the total of EUR 9.39 million in public auctions in the previous year, September 2022 – July 2023), the concluded year marks a +8.9% advance in art sales through public auction.</p>
<p>For the first time in Artmark's history, four auctions in a single semester were sold entirely (100% auction success rate). These include the Anniversary Watch Auction in May, two sports memorabilia auctions in June, and an art auction (the Auction of a Bucharest Gallery’s Heritage in July). </p>
<p>In the recent Artmark Summer Auction (June 18, 2024), Nicolae Tonitza's painting "Girl Indoors" increased from a starting price of EUR 25,000 to double the maximum estimate after a 4-minute auction, going through 19 auction steps to a final price of EUR 80,000. Works by Theodor Aman and Adrian Ghenie or Ștefan Luchian reached similar or even higher prices.</p>
<p>Aside from paintings, the small niche of the sculpture category in the art market shows signs of expansion. Besides the already famous stars of classical sculpture auctions – Dimitrie Paciurea, Oscan Han, Ion Jalea, or Cornel Medrea – the recent market has also started to show interest in contemporary sculpture, marking auction records of young authors.</p>
<p>Strictly referring to the specialized contemporary art auctions, the contemporary art auction market is visibly growing by +67 % compared to the similar semi-annual period of 2023 (from less than EUR 1 million in the first half of 2023 to EUR 1.66 million in the first half of 2024). </p>
<p><em><a href="mailto:radu@romania-insider.com">radu@romania-insider.com</a></em></p>
<p><em>(Photo source: Artmark)</em></p>