Auctions, the art market in Italy is worth over 300 million

The value of the Italian art market in 2018, according to the data provided by the main auction houses to the Giornale dell'Arte, amounts 300.548.035 to EUR. This result derives from the realization of 514 auctions and about sixty of these auctions were organized online, demonstrating how much new technologies have invested even a traditional market such as that of art.

Innovation has become an integral part of the contemporary artistic scenario: the dialogue between the auctioneer and the computer buyer is constant, but the exchanges that take place entirely online and in which different realities operate at very high levels are also worthy of attention.

THE PODIUM

With a total of over thirty million euros in total turnover in 2018, the auction house The bridge wins the gold medal among the Italian auction houses with 30,8 million takings. The total number of auctions organized is equal to 26 events and which increase the result for the full year by five million compared to 2017. The best-selling lot was a Wolfers Freres ring worth 750 euros.

Silver medal for the Pandolfini house which also for 2018 confirms the level of turnover of just over 28 million and a number of auctions organized equal to 37, where the most expensive lot sold was a platinum ring with diamond sold at 979 thousand euros.

The bronze goes to the auction house Cambi whose best-selling lot was San Gerolamo by Giovanni Sarodine, for 337.500 euros. A total of 53 auctions were held, 12 of which were online. The overall result for 2018 closed down compared to the previous year: around 28 million in turnover against over 35 in the previous year.

The common thread running through the top three auction houses in the ranking is the sale of three works by Giorgio De Chirico: "Pericle" sold for 587.000 euros at Il Ponte, "Trophée" at 613 at Pandolfini, and finally "Ettore e Andromaca" , sold by Cambi for 262.500 euros.

THE INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

They appear in the ranking of Italian auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's which have been present in the peninsula for fifty and sixty years and which, with three auctions organized throughout the year 2018, are in fourth and fifth place. In Italy, the two foreign houses hold auctions of modern art and contemporary art.

As far as Sotheby's is concerned, the main lot was “Spatial concept. Attese”, the canvas by Lucio Fontana built in 1967 and sold for a total of 2.409 thousand euros. The overall turnover of the English auction house exceeds 27 million, achieving a growth rate of over 20% on 2017: "The square in Milan is increasingly worthy of our sale rooms, not only for the world records registered, but also for the international nature of the works in the catalog and of the buyers”, explained Filippo Lotti, managing director of Sotheby's Italia.

The other London-based Christie's on the sixtieth anniversary of its Italian branch – Christie's in Italy – has aimed to offer the Italian public a large selection of works of “Italian art from the 14.7th century and which has allowed it to triumph once again, reaching a total of 97 million euros, equal to XNUMX% of sales by value. Our strategy that aims to offer only the best of this category in Italy in a single annual auction it was amply rewarded”, commented Mariolina Bassetti, chairman of Christie's Italia.