Market Data/2021
The Art Auction Market in 2021
In 2021, 21,768 lots sold at auction for a combined $5.0B in hammer prices, up 20% from 2020. The average sold lot fetched $229,302; the year's top result reached $92.2M.
Lots sold
21,768
Total volume
$5.0B
+20% vs 2020
Average price
$229,302
Top sale
$92.2M
Top artists by auction volume, 2021
| # | Artist | Volume | Lots sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean-Michel Basquiat | $254.3M | 33 |
| 2 | Andy Warhol | $179.2M | 322 |
| 3 | Gerhard Richter | $153.9M | 78 |
| 4 | Pablo Picasso | $139.3M | 280 |
| 5 | Cy Twombly | $132.7M | 18 |
| 6 | Banksy | $130.0M | 171 |
| 7 | Claude Monet | $117.1M | 6 |
| 8 | Alberto Giacometti | $86.7M | 13 |
| 9 | Zao Wou-ki | $83.5M | 42 |
| 10 | Roy Lichtenstein | $83.4M | 138 |
Query this data programmatically
Every figure on this page is computed from the Art Market API's auction database.Lot-level 2021 auction results is available as structured JSON, filterable by date, price, category, and more.
curl "https://api.artmarketapi.com/api/v1/auction_records?start_date=2021-01-01&end_date=2021-12-31&limit=10" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer amapi_live_your_key_here"Create a free account — 100 free credits, no card required — or read the API documentation.