In early November, Christie’s auction house sold the art collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The $1.5 billion raised from the sale of the collection set a historic record, cementing the growth that had been observed in the art market since early 2022. 

According to the 2022 Global Collectors Survey, published by Art Basel and UBS (SEE HERE), spending on art in the first half of 2022 nearly doubled that of 2019, averaging US$180,000 per collector. The percentage of collectors who purchased works priced at over US$1 million also saw a significant increase, rising from 12% in 2021 to 23% this year. There are other interesting findings in the survey. Interest in digital art, for example: 17% of spending was dedicated to it, including 10% on NFT artworks, which reached an average price of US$46,000. A generational gap is also evident. While 55% of Baby Boomer respondents prefer to shop in person at a gallery, only 28% of Gen Z respondents share this preference.

78% of respondents were optimistic about the market, with more than half (55%) planning to purchase artworks during the second half of 2022. The question that arose following the auction of the Allen collection in November was whether this record price signaled a market peak, depleting a significant portion of collectors’ budgets amid a global recession. The answer, however, seems to favor the optimists. Shortly after the sale of the Allen collection, the Solinger collection of modern art went on the market; it exceeded pre-auction estimates, with 60% of the works selling above the high estimate.