One of the biggest art fairs in the world, Art Basel, runs a periodic survey of collectors in the most important markets around the globe in order to assess trends – and Brazil is one of the markets surveyed. The document received little coverage in Brazil. So the Clé Blog took advantage of the turn of the year to dive into the figures relating to the local market and share them in this post.
The Survey of Global Collecting 2023 is a fairly extensive document. The full report runs to 149 pages and details the results of the interviews carried out with 2,828 high-net-worth collectors in 11 regional markets: Germany, Brazil, China, the United States, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Taiwan.
The assessment of the Artsy website is that the report pointed to a trend that is not positive, but is also “still” not negative, considering the global data. But even in this outlet's assessment, China and South America (that is, Brazil) stand out for having the largest number of dealers with positive expectations.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg website highlighted that the ultra-wealthy are more cautious about art and antiques collections, with a fall in the percentage of purchases above US$ 1 million, from 12% in 2021 to 4% in 2022 and a recovery to 9% in 2023. However, the average value of the works acquired rose by 19%, reaching US$ 65,000 in 2023.
And in Brazil?
We combed through the Art Basel report to find the references to Brazil, and apparently the local market is more optimistic than the rest of the world – as well as displaying other particularities.
The report itself lists among its main highlights that collectors from China, Japan, Brazil and Italy are among those who most declared an intention to buy art in the six months following the survey – in Brazil's case, 60% of those interviewed answered in this way.
Brazilian collections have more women
The work of women artists remains far less present in all the regions surveyed, but Brazil is among the markets with the greatest female presence in collections: 42% of the works held by Brazilian collectors are by women, a slight increase compared with 2022 (40%). Other markets standing out in this respect were Germany (44%), Singapore (43%) and Hong Kong (42%).
Brazilians also stood out for their growing interest in local artists: they accounted for 42% of the works in collections in 2022, and now account for 51%. There was also an increase in interest in local galleries – from 43% to 56%.
Average number of works per collection
The Brazilian collections of those surveyed have, on average, 44 works – the same number as North American collectors. Among the 11 markets, Brazil is only above Hong Kong (41) and Singapore (39). In first place is Taiwan, with 65 works per collection.
Brazilian collectors narrowed their buying focus to a smaller number of galleries: there were 22 in 2022, and only 15 in 2023.
As for the amounts invested, 33% bought works valued at more than US$ 100,000 and only 6% pieces valued at more than US$ 1 million.
While in most markets collectors said they buy for personal pleasure (37%), in Brazil and Japan collectors said that financial motivation (investment) is the most decisive factor.
Along with Hong Kong and Taiwan, Brazilian collectors were the ones who most said that their interest in conceptual works had increased.
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