The Artprice100 © is designed as a portfolio of works of art that represent the hundred most important artists on the art market (see composition below). It is a purely theoretical exercise.
In fact, it is not possible to acquire a share of all works by an artist that will be auctioned in the coming year. In fact, nobody can predict which works will come to the secondary market in the next twelve months. But the results as a whole offer an excellent assessment of the general price development for each of these artists.
The composition of the Artprice100 © index is based on purely objective criteria. It will be determined on the basis of two criteria on January 1 of each year, both of which are absolutely independent of personal preferences: a performance criterion and a liquidity criterion .
The initial investment is therefore carried out in relation to the auction services of the artists in the last five calendar years (2015-2019), but on the condition that their works are replaced regularly: at least seven auction appearances per year over a period of ten years. Year (without printing).
Analysis of the composition
There are two good reasons to calculate a specific price index for a number of high -sales artists: First, it enables the analysis of the performance of a well -diversified portfolio that was objectively constructed on the basis of the auction results for established artists. Second, it enables the development of the 100 artists to be observed, which form the true core of the global art market.
Pablo Picasso remains the dominant artist of the portfolio in the first investment. Based on all Picasso's original auctioned in 2020, Artprice calculates that his price index rose by +2.2 % in the twelve months of 2020. This result is perfectly harmonious with the overall development of the Artprice100 ©.
Picasso is one of 45 modern artists included in the composition of the 2020 index. This creative phase is by far the most solid segment of the art market and accounts for about half of the initial investment.
As in 2019, only four artists qualified in 2020 to join the composition of the Artprice100 ©: Yayoi Kusama , Joan Mitchell , Louise Bourgeois and Barbara Hepworth . They only make 3.3 % of the total value of the portfolio. On the other hand, thanks to the “entry” of seven active painters, the number of living artists has increased significantly from the composition with only three “exits”.
Entries (living artists); Lee Ufan, Zhou Chunya, Rudolf Stingel, Zhang Xiaogong, Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami , Zeng Fanzhi
Departures (living artists); Günther Uecker, Frank Auerbach, Michelangelo Pistoletto
Composition of the Artprice100 © on January 1, 2020 (placement, weighting, styles)
- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973); 8.8% - modern art
- Andy Warhol (1928-1987); 5.0% - post -war art
- Claude Monet (1840-1926); 4.7 % - 19th century
- Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988); 3.6% - contemporary art
- Qi Baishi (1864-1957); 3.5% - modern art
- Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013); 3.3% - post -war art
- Gerhard Richter (1932-); 2.8% - post -war art
- Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010); 2.4% - modern art
- Fu Baoshi (1904-1965); 2.4% - modern art
- Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920); 2.2% - modern art
- Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997); 2.0% - post -war art
- Cy Twombly (1928-2011); 1.9% - post -war art
- Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966); 1.9% - modern art
- Lucio Fontana (1899-1968); 1.8% - modern art
- Marc Chagall (1887-1985); 1. 7% - modern art
- Alexander Calder (1898-1976); 1.7% - modern art
- Joan Miro (1893-1983); 1.6% - modern art
- Willem de Kooning (1904-1997); 1.6% - modern art
- David Hockney (1937-); 1.5% - post -war art
- Yayoi Kusama (1929-); 1.5% - post -war art
- Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985); 1.4% - modern art
- René Magritte (1898-1967); 1.4% - modern art
- Henri Matisse (1869-1954); 1.4% - modern art
- Fernand Léger (1881-1955); 1.2% - modern art
- Christopher Wool (1955-); 1.2% - contemporary art
- Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944); 1.1% - modern art
- San Yu (1901-1966); 1.1% - modern art
- Jeff Koons (1955-); 1.0% - contemporary art
- Henry Moore (1898-1986); 1.0% - modern art
- Peter Doig (1959-); 0.9% - contemporary art
- Paul Gauguin (1848-1903); 0.9% - 19th century
- Joan Mitchell (1926-1992); 0.9% - post -war art
- Lin Fengmian (1900-1991); 0.8% - modern art
- Ed Ruscha (1937-); 0.8% - post -war art
- Yoshitomo Nara (1959-); 0.8% - contemporary art
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919); 0.8 % - 19th century
- Chu Teh-Chun (1920-2014); 0.8% - post -war art
- Edgar Degas (1834-1917); 0.7% - 19th century
- Auguste Rodin (1840-1917); 0.7% - 19th century
- PU RU (1896-1963); 0.7% - modern art
- Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008); 0.7% - post -war art
- Richard Prince (1949-); 0.6% - contemporary art
- Rudolf Stingel (1956-); 0.6% - contemporary art
- Frank Stella (1936-); 0.6% - post -war art
- Sigmar Polke (1941-2010); 0.6% - post -war art
- Camille Pissarro (1830-1903); 0.6% - 19th century
- Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010); 0.6% - modern art
- What-Ki Kim (1913-1974); 0.6% - modern art
- Paul Signac (1863-1935); 0.6% - modern art
- Yves Klein (1928-1962); 0.6% - post -war art
- Keith Haring (1958-1990); 0.5% - contemporary art
- Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993); 0.5% - post -war art
- Pierre Soulages (1919-); 0.5% - modern art
- George Condo (1957-); 0.5% - contemporary art
- Norman Perceval Rockwell (1894-1978); 0.5% - modern art
- Wu Hufan (1894-1968); 0.5% - modern art
- Alberto Burri (1915-1995); 0.4% - modern art
- Gustav Klimt (1862-1918); 0.4% - modern art
- Zeng fanzhi (1964-); 0.4% - contemporary art
- Egon Schiele (1890-1918); 0.4 % - modern art
- Damien Hirst (1965-); 0.4% - contemporary art
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938); 0.4% - modern art
- Chaïm Soutine (1894-1943); 0.4% - modern art
- Fernando Botero (1932-); 0.4% - post -war art
- Edvard Munch (1863-1944); 0.4% - modern art
- Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947); 0.4% - modern art
- Kazuo Shiraga (1924-2008); 0.4% - post -war art
- Wen Zhengming (1470-1559); 0.4% - old masters
- Zhou Chunya (1955-); 0.4% - contemporary art
- Morton Wayne Thiebaud (1920-); 0.4% - post -war art
- Georg Baselitz (1938-); 0.4% - post -war art
- Salvador Dali (1904-1989); 0.4% - modern art
- Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968); 0.4% - modern art
- François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008); 0.4% - post -war art
- Shi Tao (1642-C.1707); 0.4% - old masters
- Dong Qicichang (1555-1636); 0.4% - old masters
- Max Ernst (1891-1976); 0.4 % - modern art
- Sam Francis (1923-1994); 0.4% - post -war art
- Georges Braque (1882-1963); 0.4% - modern art
- Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958); 0.4% - modern art
- Bernard Buffet (1928-1999); 0.4% - post -war art
- Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640); 0.4% - old masters
- Ufan Lee (1936-); 0.4% - post -war art
- Francis Picabia (1879-1953); 0.3% - modern art
- Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975); 0.3% - modern art
- Albert Oehlen (1954-); 0.3% - contemporary art
- Anselm Kiefer (1945-); 0.3% - contemporary art
- Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964); 0.3% - modern art
- Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994); 0.3% - post -war art
- Robert Motherwell (1915-1991); 0.3% - modern art
- Tang Yin (1470-1523); 0.3% - old masters
- Guan Liang (1900-1986); 0.3% - modern art
- Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997); 0.3% - contemporary art
- Takashi Murakami (1962-); 0.3% - contemporary art
- Donald Judd (1928-1994); 0.3% - post -war art
- Chen yifei (1946-2005); 0.3% - contemporary art
- Zhang Xiaogang (1958-); 0.3% - contemporary art
- Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004); 0.3% - post -war art
- David Smith (1906-1965); 0.3% - modern art
- Josef Albers (1888-1976); 0.3% - modern art
Source: Artmarket.com: The Artprice100 © index is continuing to grow… +405% Since 2000 (Author: Thierry Ehrmann)
Artprice100 © - Value winding in the past 20 years
The Blue Chip Art Index from Artprice, the Artprice100 © , which is often used as a reference, has even grown by 1.8 % in the Corona crisis year ... a year that was characterized by almost complete lack of international trade fairs, but also by the forced transition from galleries and auction houses to a digital modus operandi. And yet ... the prices of the 100 best artists in the art market (according to auction sales) continued to increase in 2021 by a considerable 36%.
Since 2000, the prices of the TOP100 artists of Artprice Index have risen by fabulous +589 % (in comparison: the S&P 500 only increased by +224 % in the same period.

For this reason, for 86 % of asset managers Art is an integral part of a well -diversified portfolio. "Blue Chip Art" is recommended . Similar to the stock market, Blue Chip Art the works of the most renowned artists, whose position in the auction market has held at the top over the years.
The need for these world -famous artists is steadily increasing, which is why the prospects for increasing value and resale value will continue to be extremely positive in the future.
You can find more information about the investment options, return opportunities and forms of investment in Blue Chip Art in our articles:
- Art as an investment - Blue Chip Art exceeds shares, gold, real estate and inflation
- Successfully invest in art - art as an investment
- Why invest in art? Opportunities, tips, do's & dont's

Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza. Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.