One of the largest art fairs in the world, Art Basel conducts a periodic survey of collectors in the most important markets around the globe to assess trends, and Brazil is one of the markets surveyed. The document had little repercussion in Brazil. So, the Clé Chenue Blog took advantage of the turn of the year to dive into the figures concerning the local market and share them in this post.
The Survey of Global Collecting 2023 is a rather extensive document. The full report has 149 pages and details the results of interviews conducted 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 by the Artsy website is that the report pointed to a trend that is not positive, but "not yet" negative either, considering the global data. But even in this outlet's view, China and South America (that is, Brazil) stand out for having the largest share of dealers with positive expectations.
The Bloomberg website, in turn, highlighted that the ultra-wealthy are more cautious with art and antiques collections, with a reduction in the share 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 19%, reaching US$ 65 thousand 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, in addition to presenting 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 respondents answered 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 largest female presence in collections: 42% of the works owned by Brazilian collectors are by women, a slight increase compared to 2022 (40%). Other highlights in this regard 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 are now 51%. There was also an increase in interest in local galleries, from 43% to 56%.
Average number of works per collection
The Brazilian collections surveyed have, on average, 44 works, the same number as North American collectors. Among the 11 markets, Brazil ranks above only Hong Kong (41) and Singapore (39). In first place is Taiwan with 65 works per collection.
Brazilian collectors have narrowed their buying focus to a smaller number of galleries: 22 in 2022, and only 15 in 2023.
As for the amounts invested, 33% bought works valued above US$ 100 thousand and only 6% bought pieces valued at more than US$ 1 million.
While in most markets collectors declared that 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 reported that their interest in conceptual works has increased.
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