Analysis
Data Dive: Who Are Today’s Most Bankable Artists?
From Claude Monet to Yayoi Kusama, these artists are bringing in big bucks at auction.
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Artnet News
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This article is part of the Artnet Intelligence Report Mid-Year Review 2024. Our analysis of the first half of the year’s market trends provides a data-driven overview of the current state of the art world, highlighting auction results and trends, and spotlights the artists and artworks shaping the dialogue.
European Old Masters
Self-Portrait In Traveling Costume (1816) by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun¹, the third-highest artist at auction in the European Old Masters category.
Impressionist & Modern
Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (1897) by Claude Monet², the top-selling artist in the Impressionist and Modern category.
Postwar
Yayoi Kusama’s Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart (2023)³ on view at Art Basel in Basel this year.
Contemporary
Yoshitomo Nara’s I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (2017)4 sold for over $12 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in April.
Ultra-Contemporary
Thread (2012) by Njideka Akunyili Crosby5, the 10th-best-selling artist from the first half of 2024.
1. Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait in Traveling Costume (1816). Courtesy of Sotheby’s;
2. Claude Monet, Matinée sur la Seine (1897). Christie’s Images Ltd. 2024
3. Yayoi Kusama, Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart (2023). Photo by Valentin Flauraud/AFP via Getty Images.
4. Yoshitomo Nara, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (2017). Courtesy of Sotheby’s
5. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Thread (2012). Courtesy Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London / © Jadé Fadojutimi 2024 (Photo by Eva Herzog).
