(Bloomberg) -- Christie's, the world's leading auction house, reported a 26 percent increase in annual sales as the art market turned the corner following a two-year slump.
Global sales of art and collectibles rose to 5.1 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) in 2017, the London-based company said Friday in a statement. Booming stock prices and a more stable political environment in key economies restored the balance between supply and demand as sellers returned to the market, Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Cerutti said in an interview.
Auction sales jumped 38 percent to 4.6 billion pounds, led by Leonardo Da Vinci's “Salvator Mundi” soaring to a record $450.3 million in November in New York. The 500-year-old painting of Christ, acquired by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, helped the company's Old Master sales more than double. Over the full year, 81 percent of lots found buyers, compared with 78 percent in 2016.
Postwar and contemporary art tied with the Impressionist and modern category at 1.2 billion pounds in sales. Vincent Van Gogh's painting “Laboureur dans un champ” fetched $81.3 million, leading the Impressionist-modern group, while Andy Warhol's “Sixty Last Suppers” paced postwar-contemporary offerings at $60.9 million. Among disappointments were private sales, which fell 32 percent to 472.4 million pounds.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Dan Reichl
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