2021 was already a record year for France's auction market.
The sales figures of the previous year were surpassed again in 2022.
Since Brexit, the more complicated trading conditions with London have resulted in advantages for Paris.
The growing wealth of private collectors and a generational change are strengthening supply and demand, and there are also new museums – whether in China or on the Arabian Peninsula – whose collections are being expanded.
At the Artpaugée auction house in Toulouse, for example, a rediscovered painting, attributed to the southern German Renaissance painter Bernhard Strigel, of an “angel in a yellow tunic waving incense” was auctioned for 2.8 million euros by the “Louvre” in Abu Dhabi.
Sotheby's and Christie's fight each year for market leadership.
In the year before last, Sotheby's was in first place;
In 2022, Christie's presented outstanding collections and masterpieces.
With a turnover of 492 million euros, François Pinault's company was able to record the best result since it was founded in France.
This is an increase of 20 percent compared to 2021 and almost twice as much as in the pre-pandemic year 2019. The bidders were more international than ever before: they came from 85 countries.
The privately negotiated deals that add up to the said sales have tripled compared to the previous year, but figures are not published.
Four of the five highest surcharges were also approved at Christie's in 2022.
When the collection of couturier Hubert de Givenchy was auctioned off in June, 1129 lots came under the hammer for 118.1 million euros, including Alberto Giacometti's "Femme qui marche (I)" from the early 1930s.
At 23.5 million euros, the bronze sculpture became the top lot of the French auction year.
A drawing recently attributed to Michelangelo also fetched a notable price at Christie's in April.
The hammer price of 20 million euros was - albeit well below the expectation of 30 million - the highest ever for a drawing in Europe.
In October, Christie's tested a new auction format for the Paris+ art fair by Art Basel.
"Avant-garde(s) including Thinking Italian" scored a turnover of 66,
7 million euros.
As a highlight, a shimmering silver “Concetto Spaziale” by Lucio Fontana was sold at 13 million euros (estimate around 11 million).
Like Christie's, Sotheby's 2022 in France ended the year with the highest sales since it was founded - with a turnover of 449 million euros.
Compared to the previous year, the increase is six percent, with the bidders coming from 97 countries.
Patrick Drahi's house gives numbers for privately negotiated deals: their sales doubled to 151 million euros.
The top lot of the year is the painting "Pavonia" by Francis Picabias, which was sold in March.
It brought in 8.5 million euros (6/8 million).
In second place is Pierre Soulages' "Peinture 162cm × 130cm, 2 May 1963", which achieved five million euros in the "Modernités" offer for Paris+, but only met the lower expectation.
The great French painter died shortly thereafter at the age of 102.