Brushstrokes of profit: Cecily Brown's soaring art prices
Discover how Cecily Brown's meteoric rise in 2023, marked by seven-digit sales, presents a compelling opportunity for art investors seeking creative brilliance and financial growth.
In the ever-evolving tapestry of the art market, the name Cecily Brown shines brighter than ever in 2023. This British artist has taken the global art market by storm, leaving a trail of seven-digit sales in her wake and smashing through the proverbial glass ceiling for female artists. As we delve into her fascinating journey, we find that her rise is not just a testament to her incredible talent but also a symbol of the shifting tides within the art market.
Born in London in 1969, Cecily Brown’s artistic roots trace back to the iconic Slade School of Fine Art. However, her creative spirit refused to be confined within the walls of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement, famously championed by businessman and mega-art collector Charles Saatchi. Seeking a new horizon, she embarked on a journey to Manhattan in 1994. It was here that her expressive, gestural paintings found their true home, capturing the essence of American Expressionists like Willem de Kooning.
From the moment her work graced the walls of Deitch Projects in SoHo in 1998, New York’s art world was spellbound. Critics may have been divided in their opinions, but there was no denying the raw ardor in her brushstrokes, the electrifying energy imbued in her figures, and the unabashedly erotic undertones that pulsated through her canvases. Cecily Brown had unleashed a visual language that resonated deep within viewers.
Simultaneously, across the pond, artists like Jenny Saville were sparking a revival in figurative painting. Brown was at the forefront of this renaissance, and her 2000 solo show at the Gagosian Gallery in SoHo marked the turning point in her career. Vanity Fair captured her reclining provocatively before one of her paintings, wearing a T-shirt adorned with a dollar sign. The doors to art market stardom swung wide open, and Brown was ready to step through.
Her paintings swiftly found homes in prestigious public collections, and the auction market couldn’t get enough of her work. In November 2000, her paintings at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York exceeded all expectations, with prices ranging from $60,000 to $90,000. By 2001, she had already breached the $100,000 mark at auction, a remarkable achievement for a 32-year-old artist.
The Gagosian Gallery elevated her prices into the six-digit realm, and the secondary market followed suit. In 2007, Phillips de Pury & Company hammered a colossal $1.1 million for her monumental painting “The Girl Who Had Everything” (1998). This marked the moment when Cecily Brown firmly established herself as one of the most indispensable contemporary artists of her era. Today, that very painting commands a staggering $6 million.
Price performance of “The Girl Who Had Everything”
November 2007: $1.1 million at Phillips, New York
June 2017: $2.4 million at Sotheby’s, London
March 2022: $5.8 million at Christie’s, London
15-Year Price Change: 427%
Annual Price Growth: 12% (vs. International Stocks: 2.3%)
Even after parting ways with Gagosian Gallery in 2014, Cecily Brown’s reputation and prices continued to soar. At the age of 53, she has received a rare honor for a British artist — a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Titled “Death and the Maiden” after Franz Schubert’s haunting string quartet, this exhibition has injected new life into her market. In the first seven months of 2023 alone, eight of her paintings have achieved seven-digit prices, tantalizingly close to her auction record of $6.8 million.
Currently ranked 30th in Artprice’s provisional list of artists by annual auction sales, Cecily Brown is leading the charge for gender rebalancing in the art world. Her remarkable prices and the fervor surrounding her work are clear indicators that female artists are inching ever closer to achieving parity with their male counterparts.
What’s more, her 2023 auction results have eclipsed those of well-established contemporary art icons like Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst. This is a monumental milestone, echoing Brown’s sentiments from 2015 when she spoke about the art world’s gender disparity. She stated, “I’m actually very frustrated for women in the art world right now. I feel there’s a major glass ceiling. There are so many fantastic women artists, and they don’t do as well as their male counterparts in some areas. It’s crass to talk about the market, but that’s the obvious one. Maybe in another couple of decades, it will be truly equal.”
As Cecily Brown’s journey continues to unfold in 2023, her story becomes not only a testament to artistic brilliance but also a tantalizing opportunity for art investors. In a world where gender parity in the art market has been a long-standing challenge, her triumphant ascent stands as a beacon of hope and inspiration. For savvy art investors, it’s a clear sign that the winds of change are blowing through the industry, promising potentially lucrative returns. As the year progresses and her prices soar, the implications for art investors are undeniable: investing in Cecily Brown’s work is not just a bet on her talent; it’s a strategic move in an evolving market landscape where the stars of female artists are rising, and the potential for financial growth is painting a vibrant picture of opportunity.