The market for Picassos may be about to turn
After a long bull run, the man and the artist are being re-evaluated
Artists rarely create more than 5,000 works over a lifetime. Pablo Picasso, who died on April 8th 1973 at the age of 91, produced 25,000. Between 1950 and 2021 more than 1,500 notable Picassos were sold at auction in America and Britain, compared with 798 by the next-most-prolific artist, Andy Warhol, according to Sotheby’s Mei Moses, the art-data arm of the auction house. In its recent London sales, Sotheby’s offered a sculpture, an illustrated book, a cubist bronze cast, some gravure prints and several drawings and paintings, all by Picasso. Prices ranged from under £5,000 ($6,200) to more than £18m.
Since 1999 prices of Picasso’s works have grown twice as fast as the broader market for 20th-century art. The most expensive Picasso was sold for $180m, reportedly by a Saudi collector to a former prime minister of Qatar. But in the midst of what one commentator calls the “Picassopalooza” around the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death, dealers and auction houses are nervous that the long bull market may be about to turn.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Peak Pablo"
Business April 1st 2023
More from Business
Does Perplexity’s “answer engine” threaten Google?
Taking aim at one of the best business models of all times
How not to work on a plane
Hours without interruption and work to do. What could go wrong?
Why does BHP want Anglo American?
Its $39bn takeover offer is the latest in a string of mining mega-mergers