The Dutch contemporary art market 2002-2008

The contemporary art market was booming in the period 2002-2008. The first primary art markets were visible in the 15th century and the first auctions took place in the 17th century. In the beginning of the 20th century the art auction market also focused on art by living artists. When an artist is still alive he can have art works sold in the primary as well as in the secondary art market. How does this influence the career of an artist? The contemporary art market in the period 2002-2008 was analyzed by looking at the number of art works made by Dutch living artists offered at auction. 453 different Dutch artists had at least one art work offered art auction. For comparison the period 1995-2001 was also analyzed. In that period the top 10 artists with art works offered at auction was all male. In the period 2002-2008 the top 10 included two female artists. These two artists were found in place 3 and 5. To research how the primary and secondary art market can influence the career of one artist case studies were done. The choice was made to analyze Marlene Dumas and Rineke Dijkstra, the numbers 3 and 5 in the top 10 of 2002-2008. The number of gallery exhibitions was analyzed as well as the number of museum exhibitions. Further more the art prices at auction were taken into account. The numbers of exhibitions for Dumas and Dijkstra hardly differ. Both artists had a large number of museum exhibitions. In the number of lots brought to auction differences can be seen. Dumas has had 235 lots put up for auction, while Dijkstra only had 134. When it comes to the highest price, a Dumas reached 6.4 million and a Dijkstra 360.000 dollars. Dumas seems to be the more successful artist at auction. Comparing gallery and museum exhibitions with auction figures drawing conclusions is difficult. Looking at the data in a more qualitative way some conclusions can be drawn. Marlene Dumas had two high prices. The first was for a painting called The Teacher (sub a), which sold for 3 million dollars. This can be explained by the two highly important exhibitions opening days before auction. The other high price for The Visitor can be explained by the size of the work and the rarity within the oeuvre. For Rineke Dijkstra it can be said that her highest price was not really so remarkable. All photographs reached prices around 50.000 dollars. The 360.000 dollars was actually paid for an edition of six photographs. The second highest price of 160.000 dollars was for a single photograph. This price can be explained by the high number of museum exhibitions in general in that year. In the year previous to the auction Dijkstra had works displayed at the Guggenheim in New York and in Tate Liverpool and Tate Modern. This could have contributed to the reputation of the artist. Without a reputation an artist will not be successful.