Christie's projects $5.7B Global Sales in 2024, Down from Last Year’s $6.2 B

Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer, Christie’s: "Our key performance indicators of overall sell through rate of 86%, hammer vs. low estimate index at 112% and bidders per lot of 3.7 all showed growth year over year, indicating that our strategy and focus resonated with sellers and buyers. We sold the most valuable work of the year René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières for $121.2M from the Mica Ertegun collection; the only lot to sell for over $100M globally. Christie’s also sold the most valuable jewel of the year, The Eden Rose, for $13.4M in New York in June. Private Sales have grown by 41%, contributing 27% to global sales."

He continues: "Throughout the year we have continued to make self-funded investments in significant growth opportunities. Christie’s Art Finance continues to expand its business offering financial solutions against art and luxury assets, while Christie’s Ventures is now invested in 12 dynamic high-growth companies. Our new Asia headquarters opened at the Henderson in Hong Kong in September where we have already welcomed more than 27,000 visitors. In September we announced our licence to trade in the key territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where we are already seeing strong engagement. We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of Gooding & Company, the leading international auction house in the collector car market. Gooding Christie’s has an exciting calendar planned for 2025 commencing with our exhibition at Salon Rétromobile in Paris in February, followed by our annual Amelia Island Auctions from March 6 - 7, 2025." 

Projected Global Figures 2024

*Note: All figures subject to minor changes and adjustments, as additional sales are continuing through end of year

Total sales: $5.7B / £4.5B / €5.3B / HK$44.6B
(-6% USD / -9% GBP / -6% € / -6% HK$ vs. 2023)

Auction sales: $4.2B / £3.3B / €3.9B / HK$32.9B
(-16% USD / -19% GBP / -16% € / -16% HK$ vs. 2023)
including online sales $336M / £263M / €311M / HK$2,639M
(-8% USD /-11% GBP / -8%€ / -8% HK$ vs. 2023)

Private Sales: $1.5B / £1.2B / €1.4B / HK$11.7B
(+41% USD /+37% GBP /+41%€ /+42% HK$ vs. 2023)



Americas

Americas contributed 42% to global auction sales with new buyer numbers up 18% for 20th/21st Century Art. 26% of buyers and bidders in the Americas are Millennials or younger:

• Highest value work sold at auction this year was at Christie’s in the Americas in H2: Rene Magritte’s L'empire des lumières - $121.2M, a record for a Surrealist work of art; highlighting the $689M week of sales in November with 9 lots sold above $10M including the Magritte, Ed Ruscha’s Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half ($68.3M) and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled ($23M); 18 artist records set

• Following the sale of the Lear, de la Cruz and Elton John Collections in H1, the power of collections continued to be felt in H2 with MICA: The Collection of Mica Ertegun totalling $194M over four 100% sold sales and with sales ongoing; The Rockefeller Mitchells: Science for the Benefit of Humanity, two masterpieces by Joan Mitchell, totalled $26.5M

• Asian Art Week in September totalled $29.7M with auction records broken. Combined with the success of the sale series in March, Christie’s New York’s leadership in the category was confirmed

• Following the June sale for $13.3 M of The Eden Rose, a 10.20 carat Pink Diamond and the highest selling jewel sold at auction in 2024, the December Luxury sales in New York were led by a 97% sold Magnificent Jewels auction which totalled $49.2M.

Europe - Middle East - Africa (EMEA)

Buyers from EMEA contributed 32% to global auction sales. 25% of buyers and bidders in EMEA are Millennials or younger.

In London the number of bidders and buyers grew 15% with new buyers up 29% driven by the success of collection sales:

• in March René Magritte’s L'ami intime (The Intimate Friend) sold for £33.7 M, the 6th most valuable auction lot sold this year

• Titian’s early masterpiece Rest on the Flight into Egypt sold for a record-breaking £17.6M in July in one of the strongest sales for the category at Christie’s London in over a decade

• in October Lucian Freud’s Ria, Naked Portrait led the 20/21 Frieze Week sale, selling for £11.8M, leading the evening sale which totalled £82M, up 83% YoY

• the sale of three dinosaur fossils dating from 157-145 million years ago, concluded Classic Week in December, captured the hearts of many before they sold for £12.4M

In Paris this year, auction sales totalled €384M, an increase of 24% YoY, consolidating Christie’s leadership in France.

• The €73M Barbier Mueller Collection was the 2nd highest selling collection at Christie’s in 2024 and set a new world record for the category

• Sales of 40 additional collections including Renault, Danute&Alain Mallart, Man Ray-Marion Meyer, Lady Harrison and Antoine and Simone Veil, contributed to an average sold price of €70,000 across the year, consistent with 2022

• Christie’s sold 7 of the top 10 works in France this year; nearly 60 works were acquired by museums

Luxury sales in Geneva in November opened with Zinedine Zidane as auctioneer for lot 1 in a sale of rare watches raising CHF843,000 for the European Leukodystrophy Association (ELA). A sensational Colombian emerald brooch, a gift from the Aga Khan to his then wife Nina Dyer, which had originally sold at Christie’s in Geneva in 1969, sold for CHF7.8M.

There has been a 14% YoY increase in buyers from the Middle East, the result of our continued investment in the region. Christie’s Middle East hosted a mid-career retrospective in London for leading Saudi contemporary artist Ahmed Mater and in September Christie’s was granted a commercial licence for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 2025 marks Christie’s 20th anniversary in the Middle East.

Asia-Pacific (APAC)

Buyers from APAC contributed 26% to global auction sales. Following the opening of The Henderson, Christie’s Asia achieved its highest H2 in sales since 2021, driven by a growing number of new and younger collectors (44% of buyers/bidders are millennials or younger):

• Christie’s Asia Autumn sales totalled HK$3.28B, close to 90% sold by lot with almost 40% of lots sold over high estimate; Mainland China continued to be the second-highest contributing region by value after Hong Kong and there was a 62% increase in contribution by value from Southeast Asia led by Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam; there was a 55% increase in new buyers; Luxury sales in Hong Kong attracted global collectors with a 74% increase in new buyers

• Christie’s Asia has marked a significant achievement with 4 of the top 7 western masterpieces sold for over US$30M in Asia auction history, including Vincent van Gogh’s Les canots amarrés (HK$250.6M) and Nymphéas by Claude Monet (HK$233.4M) sold in 2024.

• Christie's continues to offer prestigious Asian Art private collections, from Chinese ceramics (The Ten Perfections: Qing Imperial Ceramics from the Wang Xing Lou Collection and The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale) Archaic Jades (Cosmic Essence: Archaic Jades from the Lantien Shanfang Collection) to Chinese Classical Furniture (Eternal Ming: Treasure from the MQJ collection) - all 100% sold

• 42% of global luxury spend was from APAC clients

Business Growth – Christie’s Ventures, Art +Tech, Christie’s Art Finance

Christie’s Ventures now has investments in 12 companies including LUXUS, Collagia, and Dubbl. Pilots or partnerships are running internally at Christie’s with over half of the portfolio. Ventures source new deals in four pillars: AI, FinTech, Hardware, and Web3. Christie’s also held Art+Tech Summits in New York and Hong Kong covering AI, sustainable luxury and emerging technologies. Christie’s Art Finance continues to provide loan solutions for those looking to unlock the liquidity in their art collections for further investment.

Main Image: Adrien Meyer, Christie’s Global Head of Private Sales and Co-Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, sells the top lot at auction in 2024, Rene Magritte’s L'empire des lumières for record-breaking $121.2M in New York in November from the Mica Ertegun Collection