We know that contemporary and over-age markets are receiving a fading out of a lot of speculative fanaticism, but the newly issued Hiscox Arts Top 100 (Hat 100) shows how much the contemporary art market has cooled down, auctioning 27% of the post-2000s, or $2.056 billion, accounting for $202.3 billion, and selling $202.3 billion, accounting for $202.3 billion, accounting for $202.3 billion. peak. As a result, fewer than 45 artists rose in the top 100 rankings, which are now at least 18th, which has dominated the post-war and blue chip names.
Not surprisingly, Yayoi Kusama has sales of $58.8 million. However, in the ranking, new artists have joined the top ten. For example, François-Xavier Lalanne jumped from No. 34 to No. 2, waving auction demand, bringing $52.8 million, which is just the total Kusama. Richard Prince climbed from 13th to fifth ($15.4 million), Lucian Freud soared from 43rd ($13.1 million) to No.8 ($13.1 million), while Lynette Yiadom-Boakye jumped from 23rd to No.9 and jumped to No.9 at $10.4 million. Claude Lalanne rode the sale of works signed with her late husband and developed a new interest in her work, rising for $9.75 million from the 25th to the $10th.
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Meanwhile, Ed Ruscha jumped from 127 to 13th, Agnes Martin soared from 286 to 17th, and Maurizio Cattelan (the brain of 6.2 million bananas last year) climbed from 978 to 29th. Other new entries in the top 100 are Ronald Ventura, Salvo, Derek Fordjour, Zao Wou-ki, Vija Celmins, Daniel Richter and Hilary Pecis.
Encouragingly, the Hat 100 shows signs of progress in gender equality, and despite the slow progress, the number of women in the top 100 has grown from 30 to 32. In 2024, after 2000, women's works were auctioned, starting from 728 a year ago, 13%. The top ten to join Kusama is Lalanne, with Cecily Brown ranked 9th with seven ($13.4 million) and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Julie Mehretu, while still in a strong territory, went from sixth to 11th to 1.1 million dollars ($9.6 million).
Lucy Bull and Jadé Fadojutimi lead the younger generation of new stars
Among the best performing artists under the age of 45, two women stand out. Lucy Bull's magma summary performed well in both the market and institutions, bringing the artist from No. 35 to $1.8 million ($8.1 million), followed by Jadé Fadojutimi, at No. 19 ($7.1 million). Although the Nicholas Party dropped from 7th to $2.7 million ($5.6 million), Matthew Wong fell to 30 times ($5.1 million), while the Avery singer remained steady at No. 41 ($3.6 million).
Fadojutimi's market is strong, especially her “wet paintings”, which sells 7 pieces at the 2024 auction. Braided curved garden (2021) received £1.6 million (USD 2 million), tripling and confirmed that the 31-year-old British Nigerian heritage artist is one of the most popular artists in the category. Fadojutimi's secondary market strength is getting real scarce and strong demand as her recent debut in Gagosian's sold-out New York proves that her job is almost impossible to achieve.
Other artists who have sold a large number of new works at auction in 2024 include Joel Mesler (6), Stephen Wong Chun Hei (5), Sholto Blissett (5), and Thierry Noir (5). In terms of geographical and cultural context, the ranking confirms an auction market that focuses primarily on North American artists (43) and Europe (36), while the number of Asian, African and Latin American artists ranks in the top 21 out of 25 in the previous year.
When reading Hiscox rankings, it is worth remembering that these numbers depend on both demand and supply. High-quality consignment (such as Richard Prince) Untitled (denim)sold in Christie's London in October for about $2.6 million) could lead to a jump in the rankings for artists. Similarly, Ed Ruscha Standard station, ten cent west torn in half (1964), sold at Christie's in November for $68.3 million.
The top 100 Hiscox artists can only tell us a lot
While certainly illuminating, the artist’s HISCOX rankings are based entirely on public market results that are not necessarily related to institutional relevance established through two-year grades, awards and museum exhibitions. That said, the 2025 Hat 100 ranking reflects the latest findings from the Basel Arts and UBS Art Market report this year, which shows that post-war and contemporary auction sales fell 28% year-on-year, the third year in a row, down from a high price of $8.5 billion. The latest Artprice report responds to this, finding that in 2023/24, only 43 advanced projects exceeded $500,000, even as the total transactions rose, especially at the lower level.
Despite the shocking record-breaking sales volumes becoming more frequent and the profitability of flip wet paintings is lower, post-war and modern art remain the biggest part of the fine art auction market in 2024, according to the Art Basel & UBS report. Similarly, Artprice confirmed that deals in the category hit a new record of 132,000 in twelve months, as Gen X and Millennials become the main drivers of the dynamic market.
Even though fewer super-temporary artists entered the hat rankings due to lower titles with lower prices, total deals for work after 2000 reached an all-time high, up 5%. Workloads of more than $1 million fell 41%, while batches below $50,000 rose 20% to $4,684, with a collective value of $59 million, or 5%.
“Currently, the market for new art is dominated by collectors rather than speculators, which is why less than $50,000 is sold,” the report reads. “It is human nature to want to have good things, and for relatively little money, their new collectors in their 30s and 40s can buy something through a generation of emerging artists who can collect their work for years.”
In short, the results that emerge from all these investigations do not collapse. This is a much-needed recalibration. The number of wet paintings sold at auction fell by a quarter, from 924 in 2023 to 698 in 2024. At the time of auction, the average return on project resales after 2000 fell to -0.3%, down from 9% in 2023 and up to 21.4% in 2021.
With the post-2000 art category lower profits, auction houses are working safely and avoiding the inclusion of young names in their large sales (only 35% of artists are artists under 45, down from the previous two years, while the overall focus has shifted to the work of contemporary and post-war artists.
If high valuation and speculative wet paintings gradually disappear from the spotlight, then what remains is a market defined by serious art collectors rather than slippers. But that doesn't mean the game is over. The number of new artists reached auction zones (up 12% to 2,602 pieces) while acquiring a $50,000 boom, pointing to a more diverse and (expected) more stable secondary market.
Finally, the top 100 Hiscox artists this year confirmed that New York remains the anchor for the post-war and contemporary auction markets (51%), followed by Hong Kong (25%) and London (21%). The 52% plunge in Hong Kong sales not only reflects a broader economic slowdown and a real estate market crisis in China, but a mature buyer group is trading for ongoing power, as suggested by Art Basel and Art Basel & UBS reports. And, more and more, there is a tone around the world: more thoughtful but still dynamic art markets are speculatively hyped to achieve more sustainable long-term prospects and perspectives.
