Hurun Global Art List 2023
The Hurun Research Institute today launched the Hurun Global Art List 2023, a ranking of the Top 50 artists in the world alive today, based on the sales of their works at public auction in the year ending 31 December 2022. This is the fourth year of the Hurun Global Art List.
GERMAN ARTIST GERHARD RICHTER, 91, TOP HURUN GLOBAL ART LIST WITH SALES OF HIS WORKS AT PUBLIC AUCTION LAST YEAR AMOUNTING TO US$230MN
JAPANESE ARTIST YAYOI KUSAMA, 94, RANKED 2ND WITH US$195MN, UP 1 PLACE FROM LAST YEAR, AND WORLD’S TOP WOMAN ARTIST
BRITISH ARTIST DAVID HOCKNEY, 86, RANKED 3RD WITH US$175MN, UP 3 PLACES
USA LED WITH 16 ARTISTS, FOLLOWED BY CHINA WITH 9 AND UK WITH 7. ‘BIG 3 ARTIST COUNTRIES’ ACCOUNTED FOR 64% OF LIST
TOTAL SALES OF THE WORKS OF HURUN GLOBAL ART LIST US$1.9BN, DOWN 13%
3 ARTISTS SOLD MORE THAN US$100MN, 1 LESS THAN LAST YEAR
29 ARTISTS SAW THE SALES OF THEIR WORKS RISE, OF WHICH 15 WERE NEW FACES. 21 SAW THE SALES OF THEIR WORKS DROP
OF THE 15 NEW FACES, 6 WERE FROM THE US AND 2 FROM EACH OF CHINA AND GERMANY
AVERAGE AGE WAS 63 YEARS OLD, 3 YOUNGER THAN LAST YEAR. 14 ARTISTS WERE 50 YEARS OR UNDER, 5 MORE THAN LAST YEAR
LEADING AUTHORITY ON GLOBAL WEALTH RELEASES HURUN GLOBAL ART LIST 2023
(30 November 2023, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute today launched the Hurun Global Art List 2023, a ranking of the Top 50 artists in the world alive today, based on the sales of their works at public auction in the year ending 31 December 2022. This is the fourth year of the Hurun Global Art List.
Artprice.com provided the art auction data for non-China, whilst China data was from Artprice, Artron and Artpro. The appendices contain the full Hurun Global Art List, together with the Hurun China Art List 2023 and Hurun India Art List 2023.
Hurun Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said, “Hurun Research Institute has published the Hurun China Art List for 16 consecutive years, and this is the fourth year of the Hurun Global Art List. We hope that our list can encourage more businesses and entrepreneurs with collecting potential to enter the field of art collecting. This list is designed to give them a third-party objective guide to which living artists are best recognized by the secondary market.”
“Many 'collectors' are institutions rather than individuals, especially financial institutions.”
“This year's Top 50 global living artists saw their total sales on the public auction market drop 13% from last year, but remain about the same as three years ago. The entry threshold fell by 7%, showing a slight weakness overall. But this does not mean that the value of international art has declined, perhaps because some of the best works were not put up for auction by collectors last year.”
This is a brief English language summary of the full Chinese press release which can be found at www.hurun.net. For media inquiries please contact our public relations team whose contact details can be found at the end of this report.
Who made the Hurun Global Top 10 this year?
Five artists new to the Top 10, 3 of whom were American pop artists: Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons and Ed Ruscha. The other two are Georg Baselitz (85, a German neo-expressionist artist) and Adrian Ghenie (46, a Romanian abstract artist). In the Top 10, there are 3 artists from the USA, 2 artists each from Germany, Japan and the UK, and 1 artist from Romania.
German artist Gerhard Richter, 90, maintained top spot of the Hurun Global Art List, with sales of his works at public auction down 12% to US$230mn.
Hurun Global Art List 2023 – Top 10
German artist Gerhard Richter, 91, topped the list with US$230mn in sales. A total of 369 Richter works were sold last year, including his 1994 abstract painting Abstraktes Bild. His works vary in style, including romanticism, photorealism, abstract expressionism, minimalism and pop art.
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, 94, ranked 2nd with US$195mn in sales, up 1 place from last year and up 5% from the previous year. Kusama is the only female artist in the Top 10. A total of 948 of her works were sold last year.
British artist David Hockney, 86, ranked 3rd with US$175mn, up 105% from the previous year. Of the 820 Hockney works sold last year, the most expensive was his 1969 landscape Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime. Hockney lives in Yorkshire, London and California. Known as the "Godfather of British art", his works make good use of two-dimensional pictures to reflect the three-dimensional world, so that the static picture reflects the movement and time, and the color visual impact is strong.
Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, 64, was fourth with US$98mn, the same as last year, with sales down 31%. A total of 500 works by Nara were sold last year. Nara's iconic painting of a cute, lonely little girl conveys a sentiment that resonates with young people around the world.
American pop artist Jasper Johns, 93, entered the Top 10 for the first time with a total turnover of US$93mn, ranked 5th, up 35 places from last year, and a sharp increase of 434% in sales. His early works were inspired by some simple objects, such as flags, targets, letters, etc., while his later works used artistic concepts to give his works various avant-garde meanings.
British street artist Banksy, 49, was 6th with US$68mn in sales, down 4 places from last year. Banksy is the youngest artist in the Top 10. A total of 1912 works were sold last year. Known for his satirical art style, Banksy's works are seen on streets around the world.
German artist Georg Baselitz, 85, entered the Top 10 for the first time with a total turnover of US$52mn, ranked 7th, up 38 places from last year, a 274% increase in turnover, and the most rise on the list this year. As one of the representative artists of German "neo-expressionism", he developed a expressive style of figure painting, reproducing legendary heroes and characters in mythological stories.
Romanian abstract artist Adrian Ghenie, 46, entered the Top 10 for the first time with a total turnover of US$50mn, ranked 8th, up 5 places from last year and a 21% increase in turnover. He is the youngest artist in the Top 10. The uniqueness of his creation lies in the fact that he does not use the brushes commonly used by ordinary painters as creative tools, but uses palette knives and templates. His painting style created a relatively concrete and intricate sense of space, which became a new wave.
American pop artist Jeff Koons, 68, returned to the Top 10 with US$47mn ranked 9th, up 8 places from last year and up 23% in turnover. A total of 502 works were sold last year. He is an explorer of contemporary pop art, creating visual impact with reproductions of everyday objects, cartoons and popular images.
American pop artist Ed Ruscha, 86, returned to the Top 10 with US$45mn ranked 10th, up 4 places from last year and up 11% in turnover. Most of his works associate the paintings with words with the Pop movement, and combine the local language with the urban landscape, with strong colors and great personality.
World’s Top Living Artists by Country
The Hurun Top 50 came from 13 countries, as same as last year. Of these, 16 artists live in the USA, 9 in China and 7 in the UK.
Chinese artists on the Hurun Global Art List 2023
Female artists
Youngest artists
Artists Growing Fastest – by Percentage Increase
Top 5 artists on the list with the most works sold
Top 5 artists on the list with the smallest number of works sold
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