Artprice

Artprice
Name	Artprice
Type	Public
Industry	Art market information
Founded	1987
Founder	Alain Kerlan
Headquarters	Paris, France
Key people	Frédéric Accart (CEO)
Products	Art auction databases, market intelligence
Revenue	(not disclosed)

Artprice is a Paris-based art market information provider and online database focused on auction results, artist indexes, and market analytics. The company compiles historical and contemporary auction data to serve collectors, dealers, museums, galleries, insurers, and financial institutions, and interacts with institutions such as Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams, and Agence France-Presse through reportage and data licensing. Its services intersect with actors and institutions including Tate Modern, Musée du Louvre, Museum of Modern Art, Gagosian Gallery, David Zwirner, and Pace Gallery.

History

Founded in 1987 by Alain Kerlan, the company emerged as part of a late-20th-century expansion of computerized art market documentation alongside archives such as Getty Research Institute holdings and initiatives at the Frick Collection. During the 1990s it digitized tens of thousands of catalogues raisonnés and auction catalogues from houses like Sotheby's and Christie's and collaborated with market stakeholders including Art Basel and the Venice Biennale. In the 2000s its database expanded amid technological shifts driven by companies like Yahoo! and Google, and it listed on markets influenced by entities such as Euronext Paris. The firm adapted to 21st-century demands for real-time data similar to platforms used by Bloomberg L.P. and Thomson Reuters.

Services and Products

The firm offers subscription-based databases of auction results, artist indexes, provenance records, and price indices used by collectors and institutions like Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Victoria and Albert Museum. Products include searchable archives comparable in function to resources from Artnet and analytical reports used by consultants advising clients such as Sotheby's Institute of Art and Christie's Education. Institutional licensing reaches insurance companies like AIG and Lloyd's of London and financial actors such as HSBC and BNP Paribas. It also provides press releases and market summaries cited by media outlets including Le Monde, The New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, and Forbes.

Data and Methodology

The database aggregates auction records from international salerooms—Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, Bonhams, Dorotheum—and regional auction houses across Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America. Methodologies include price standardization, inflation-adjustment procedures similar to practices in reports by International Monetary Fund statistical divisions, and construction of art price indices comparable to indices used by MSCI for financial markets. Provenance and exhibition histories are cross-referenced with institutional catalogues from Tate Britain, National Gallery of Art, and artist estates for accuracy. Data quality control draws on bibliographies, catalogues raisonnés for figures such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Rothko, Yayoi Kusama, and reference collections maintained by museums like the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Market Impact and Reception

Market participants—collectors like the families behind major private collections, dealers such as Lévy Gorvy and White Cube, and auction houses like Sotheby's—use the platform for valuation, trend analysis, and due diligence. Curators at institutions including Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Centre Pompidou have cited auction metrics for acquisition strategies, while economists and commentators at outlets such as The Economist and Bloomberg News analyze art price indices in relation to broader capital markets and luxury goods trends involving corporations like LVMH and Kering. Academics at universities like University of Oxford, Columbia University, and University of Cambridge reference the data in research on cultural economics and market behavior.

Corporate Structure and Ownership

The company is structured as a publicly listed entity headquartered in Paris with executive leadership including a chief executive and board of directors. Institutional investors and shareholders include private investment firms, family offices, and trading desks similar to those of Rothschild & Co and regional asset managers; reporting obligations align with regulatory frameworks overseen by authorities such as Autorité des marchés financiers and compliance expectations akin to listings on Euronext. Strategic partnerships and licensing agreements are negotiated with museums, auctioneers, galleries, and media organizations including Christie's, Sotheby's, and international publishers.

Controversies and Legal Issues

The firm has faced scrutiny over data completeness, pricing transparency, and the proprietary nature of its archives; critics have included independent researchers and platforms such as Artnet and commentators in The New York Times and Financial Times. Legal disputes have arisen in the art market regarding provenance, restitution claims involving works related to cases like those confronted by National Gallery of Art and institutions addressing looted art from periods connected to events such as the Nazi looting of art and restitution claims adjudicated under laws similar to the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act. Questions about copyright and database protection echo litigation trends seen in cases involving content aggregators and publishers, and regulatory scrutiny has paralleled concerns addressed by authorities including European Commission competition and data protection bodies like CNIL.

Category:Companies of France