Mega-auctions were popular in 2022

In 2022, the art world saw a record number of mega-auctions, with 52 works exceeding $30 million. An Andy Warhol's portrait was sold for $195 millions.

Mega auctions broke records in the auction rooms in 2022. 52 works exceeded $30 million, while the previous record was 36 in 2015.

This is the case, for example, of Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which was sold for $195 million at a Christie's auction last May.

This makes it the second largest sale in history, just behind the "Salvator Mundi" attributed to Leonardo da Vinci which sold for 450.3 million in 2017.

Three works auctioned in 2022 rank in the Top 10 in art auction history. "The Poseurs," a neo-Impressionist masterpiece by Georges Seurat, ranks 6th at $149.2 million. "La Montagne Sainte Victoire" by Paul Cézanne ranked 10th at $137.8 million.

Claude Monet, star painter of 2022

The star painter of 2022 is undoubtedly Claude Monet with eight works sold for more than 30 million dollars.

Of the 52 works sold for more than $30 million in 2022, 42 were sold in New York City (more than 80%), mainly at Christie's and Sotheby's.

The exceptional sale at Christie's in New York of the collection of Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft who died in 2018, on November 9 and 10 broke the record for the most expensive collection, peaking at $1.62 billion.