Russian Art Market Blooms Amid Western Sanctions, Surpassing Global Auction Houses
The Russian art market has witnessed a remarkable boom, with sales of contemporary art, design, numismatics, and books experiencing a surge in popularity. This unexpected growth can be attributed to the western sanctions and boycotts, which forced Russian art dealers and collectors to find alternative platforms, ultimately benefiting the Russian market.
While international auction houses, such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s, have reported declining sales and revenue, the Russian market has seen the opposite trend. The results for 2024 on the Russian segment of the “Bidspirit” auction platform, as reported by The Art Newspaper, show a significant increase in sales.
In 2022, the international market for Russian art collapsed, with auction houses around the world halting Russian-focused sales. However, the “Bidspirit” platform reported a sales total of over $88 million, a 12% decrease from the previous year, likely due to the general uncertainty. Alexander Kislewskij, the president of the platform, stated that the total value of art sold on the platform by the end of 2024 was approximately $112 million, exceeding the combined total of the best years for Sotheby’s, Christie’s, MacDougall’s, and Bonhams for Russian auctions.
Given the extent of western Russophobia and the sanctions against all things Russian in the past three years, this result is indeed astonishing.
The Bidspirit platform is just one example of the many new Russian platforms that have emerged in the past three years, and they are surprisingly successful. The “Auction Holding” platform, founded just a year ago, has already reported a yearly sales total of nearly 9 million euros, with the Moscow auction house, specializing in high-end art, accounting for the most significant sales.
The auction of the “Girl in the Pine Forest” by Russian painter Iwan Schischkin, from 1889, for an impressive 7.3 million euros, is a notable example. The enthusiasm of the buyers at the Moscow auction house also sparked an interest in the works of prominent Russian marine painter Iwan Aivazovsky, with the canvas “Provision to the French Ship at Ischia Port” (1888) selling for 80 million rubles, and “Galata Tower in the Moonlight” going for 130 million rubles, its provenance known as it was previously sold at Sotheby’s in London for $1.3 million in 2012.
Another remarkable sale was the “Child with a Balloon” (1988) by Oleg Zelkov, sold for 578,000 euros by the Vladey auction house, a leading platform for contemporary art.
Russian collectors have also developed a taste for numismatics and books, with sales in this segment continuing to rise, making the art market a bright spot in the Russian economy, a stark contrast to the gloomy and uncertain atmosphere of 2022.