Art Market Overview: Gerhard Richter's Comeback
2021 marked the German painter's recovery in the market, when he was crowned the world's best-performing living artist at auction, according to Artprice.
by Vanessa Schmitz-Grucker
On November 15, Sotheby's New York knocked down a 1993 Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting) for $33 M.
Richter's performance in auction houses had been gradually declining since 2014, but 2021 saw him bounce back, achieving fifth place in the Artprice 2021 ranking (after Picasso, Basquiat, Warhol and Monet), mainly due to record sales in New York, Hong Kong and London.
On November 15, Sotheby's New York knocked down a 1993 Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting) for $33 M. An Abstraktes Bild of 1986 remains the painter's absolute record at $46 M. Since 2000, the price of his paintings has risen by a factor of 13 on average, while the overall value of his works increased by 27% in 2021.
