Art Market in Spain
Sales in the Spanish art market in 2018 reached €425 million, an increase of 7% year- on-year. After two years of growth, the market has now increased in value by 19% since 2016 and 42% since its lowest point in the last ten years in 2009.
Spain remains a relatively medium priced market compared to its larger global counterparts. In the dealer sector, the median price of €25,570 was around half of the comparable global median for dealers in 2018.
While sales were stable for those dealers with annual turnover less than $500,000 (€450,000), those with sales in excess of $500,000 saw a rise of 8% year-on-year.
Sales at art fairs accounted for 54% of dealers’ sales in 2018 (up from 41% in 2016). Dealers attended five fairs on average in 2018 (three international fairs and two locally in Spain), with international events accounting for the majority (61%) of the sales made via this channel.
Based on the survey estimates, sales at fairs have risen from €127.2 million in 2016 to €175.8 million in 2018 or an increase of 34%.
According to Eurostat data, the main source countries for imports to Spain in 2016 were the US, UK and Switzerland, which accounted for a combined 63% of total values. These have been the top three import source countries for much of the last decade, with a combined share of 57% in 2006. China accounted for a 5% share in 2016, down from 8% in 2014, while Mexico and Peru were also significant sources. All of Spain’s trading partners in South and Central America accounted for a combined 8% of the value of imports in total in 2016 (versus just 2% in 2006).
The Spanish dealer sector comprised of 2,845 listed businesses in 2016 including galleries, private dealers and antique shops. While these include a number of small businesses and traders, there is a core of around 650 art and antique dealers working across a number of different sectors that generated close to 70% of the sales in the sector and are the focus of this chapter.
It is interesting to note that in terms of profitability, 86% of dealers reported that the most profitable segments for their businesses was works priced at less than $50,000, versus just 14% reporting those over $50,000. This had not changed significantly for dealers over the last five years, apart from some
Although most art fairs do not report full results on their total annual sales, based on the data reported by dealers through the surveys, sales by Spanish dealers at art fairs have risen from an estimated €94.6 million in 2013 to €127.2 million in 2016 or an increase of 34%. This also implies a total of just over €50 million in sales by Spanish dealers at fairs in Spain. Given the very low average prices at many fairs in Spain, this figure is likely to be skewed by higher end dealer sales and sales at the larger international events such as ARCO.
Enticed by economic stability and a dynamic cultural scene, collectors are looking to the country to establish permanent premises, that’s the reason why many art collectors are opening museums in Spain.
*Source: ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation