An update on the numbers of women artists who have become indispensable

Women artists : the revenge of the invisible quantified, segmented, confirmed.

In 2024, 1148 women artists were represented at auction. This is a record and an increase of 131.9% on 2018.

However, across all categories and eras, they still represent only 23.6% of the total population of artists presented on the auction market.

In sales value, their share rose from 6.2% in 2018 to 13.8% in 2024. There is, however, a slight dip to 12.6% at the start of 2025.

With regard to market trends, contemporary and young contemporary female artists make up 82% of the female auction offering in 2024. Why?

Firstly, a general interest in contemporaries. Secondly, less difficult attributions, given that many women artists up to the 20th century had some of their works wrongly attributed to their male counterparts.

The million-dollar-plus sales segment, although representing only 4.7% of lots, weighs in at 65.6% of the total value of women's sales.

Auction guarantees also reached a record high of 78.3% in 2025, compared to just 30.1% in 2018, this is proof of growing confidence in their financial viability. 

More visionary than Europe, New York concentrates 62.7% of the value of women artists. Global South women account for 34.4% of value, 21.5% of lots, and 20.6% of female artists sold in 2024.

Only 8 international galleries control nearly 80% of the high-end women's market.

Why are women artists becoming the art market's new safe havens ?

The latter are widely supported by institutions. MoMA and the Tate have devoted 50 to 54% of their solo exhibitions to women since 2018. The Centre Pompidou in Paris is following suit.

86% of these exhibitions were of contemporary artists, and 30.8% were dedicated to women from the Global South.

But that's not all : they're attracting other powerful insights to themselves.

Younger collectors (Millennials and Gen Z) represent 21.8% of female bidders in 2024, compared to 12.6% in 2018.

Women's works have an average CAGR (growth rate) of 7.6% over 14.2 years, which is higher than that of men, corresponding for them to the same rate over 20.7 years.

Thus, artists such as Marlene Dumas, Leonora Carrington, Joan Mitchell and Remedios Varo dominate sales.

Underpriced yesterday, overperforming today

50 artists alone account for 80% of the total value of sales by women artists 2018. They are mostly contemporary, since 6.5% of sales concern the Modern period and 1.9% concern Impressionist and early periods.

The market is therefore extremely concentrated for the time being, but is only waiting to be rolled out. Many artists, especially from the 19th century period, are showing encouraging results at auction, but are far from having reached their full potential. These include artists such as Constance Mayer, Rosa Bonheur, Louise Desbordes Jonas or Élise Bruyère.

However, the share of women artists in the collections of major collectors (HNWIs) rose from 33% in 2018 to 44% in 2024.

The increase is very encouraging. The proportion of works by women artists acquired by museums is also rising steadily.

Male domination of the art market remains entrenched, and despite progress, there's still a long way to go. The ratings of some art market giants are, however, declining, as is the case for Pierre Soulages : which presages a retreat of buyers towards more promising and innovative investments within the auction market. The truly representative balance has therefore not yet been achieved.

The work instigated by collectives like the Guerrilla Girls or researchers like Linda Nochlin remains slow, but sometimes to the advantage of collectors and artists alike, since sudden rises in quotation also presage sudden falls in quotation, and therefore too great a risk for many bidders.

The market not only follows a financial logic, but also reflects cultural and historical fractures. Numbers alone don't explain everything, but they are currently being pushed by academic research.

Museum institutions play a political showcase role, but continue to privilege contemporaneity, to the detriment of a historical rereading of forgotten women : what about exhibitions like Clara Peeters at the Prado in 2016?

Why betting on a female artist pays off faster (and bigger) ?

Buying works by female artists promises a faster return, over a shorter period. The works concerned posted a CGAR of 13.1% over an average holding period of 14.2 years, compared with 7.6% for men over 20.7 years.

The share of women in total auction value more than doubled in 2018, reaching 13.8% in 2024. The number of women artists sold increased 2.3-fold, from 495 in 2018 to 1184 in 2024. The potential for growth is therefore very high.

The number of female lots sold under $50,000 has leapt 136%, while the segment of sales over $1 million has grown 70% since 2018. The average price now stands at $268,888 (early 2025), compared with $22,957 in 2024. Momentum is sustained, even at the top end of the market.

Now, 78.3% of women's sales are guaranteed at auction (versus just 30.1% in 2018). This can also be explained by a changing collector base, geared towards greater diversity.

The institutional support shown by major museums is only growing, amplifying or solidifying the rating of the artists concerned.

The market for women artists is still largely undervalued, however, since the total of female sales between 2008 and 2020 is equivalent to what was spent on just one male artist, Pablo Picasso. Let's keep in mind, then, that the potential for structural revaluation is enormous.

Bibliography

Market sources and specialist reports

- Sotheby's and ArtTactic, Women Artists in the Market, Insight Report, June 2025

- Arts Economics & UBS, The Art Market 2024, annual report, March 2024.

- Burns Halperin Report, Representation and Pay in the Art World, Artnet & In Other Words, December 2022.

Reference works and articles

- Nochlin, Linda, Why haven't there been any great women artists?, trans. A. Corbin, Paris, Hazan, 1993.

- Chadwick, Whitney, Femmes, Art et Société, Paris, Thames & Hudson, 2021 (6th ed.).

- Pollock, Griselda, Vision and Difference: Feminism, Femininity and Histories of Art, London, Routledge, 1988.

- Reilly, Maura, Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating, London, Thames & Hudson, 2018.

Additional sources on artists and the market

- Guerrilla Girls, The Guerrilla Girls' Art Museum Activity Book, New York, Printed Matter, 2004.

- Baia Curioni, Stefano, L'économie du marché de l'art contemporain, Paris, Les Presses du réel, 2022.

- Thornton, Sarah, Sept jours dans le monde de l'art, Paris, Denoël, 2009.