Here's why the women artists of the École de Paris are starting to be worth their weight in gold

In recent decades, the art market has relegated the women of the École de Paris to the margins of the modernist narrative. Since the 2010s, the lines have been shifting, sales are accelerating, collectors are positioning themselves and exhibitions are multiplying.

The global figure for the share of women artists in modern sales in 2023 stood at around 5% according to Artprice.

Since then, there has been a growth in bidding for profiles such as Chana Orloff, Sonia Delaunay, Alice Halicka, Valentine Prax, Natalia Goncharova, Zinaida Serebryakova, Élisabeth Epstein or Olga Sacharoff, which is coupled with an evolution in their editorial and museum recognition, through catalogs, retrospectives and reissues. 

A museum rediscovery that begins the shift

As with the majority of women artists in France and abroad, we are witnessing an increase in the number of monographic or group exhibitions.

Such exhibitions include " Pionnières. Artistes dans le Paris des années folles " at the Musée du Luxembourg in 2022, or " Women in Abstraction " at the Centre Pompidou in 2021. Recent retrospectives have also been held for Sonia Delaunay at the Tate, MoMA and Centre Pompidou, and for Chana Orloff at the Musée Zadkine.

More than 70 group exhibitions included women from the École de Paris between 2015 and 2024, a figure that is clearly on the rise and very encouraging. Citations in exhibition catalogs (Centre Pompidou database and Getty Provenance Index). It's important to bear in mind that museum legitimization always precedes market valuation, especially for these artists.

Prices still low, but soaring fast

Female artists of the Paris School have long been undervalued by the market, but have seen their prices climb over the last decade or so. Auctions for certain rediscovered figures are rising year on year.

Collectors are now looking for the female artist they were banking on who would still be affordable for them.

For Chana Orloff, in 2010, a sculpture sold for between €10,000 and €15,000. In 2024, a sculpture dating from 1919, Jeune fille assise, sold for €152,000 at Christie's. The increase is extremely rapid, and the upside potential even more so.

For Sonia Delaunay, in 2005, her works on paper sold for between €3,000 and €7,000. In 2023, comparable works will fetch between €25,000 and €80,000. The segment is under pressure, so much so that a gouache from 1926 went for €1.2 million at Sotheby's in 2021.

International interest is awakening

Some foreign sales have featured women artists from the École de Paris in a prominent position. In France, this is a little less the case, but the clear increase in the presence of these artists at international fairs such as Art Basel, Art Paris or TEFAF confirms the new French appeal for these productions in particular.

In 2023, +47% of works by women artists from the École de Paris were sold internationally compared to 2015. The share of sales taking place outside France has fallen drastically year-on-year, from 35% in 2024 to 19% in 2015.

The number of women artists represented at modern galleries at Art Basel Paris has doubled between 2018 and 2023. Valuation is therefore supported by greater international visibility, which also accelerates the dynamics of the domestic market.

Collectors in search of historical accuracy and modern aesthetics

Thanks to the various works carried out over the last twenty years by art historians, curators, various institutions and museums, whether private or public, are all setting in motion a feminine revaluation of the 20th century.

Young collectors are sensitive to a double promise  that of formal quality and historical correctness. These artists thus offer a credible and aesthetically coherent alternative to the already inaccessible major figures such as Leonora Carrington or Remedios Varo.

According to the Art Basel 2024 report, 62% of collectors under 45 say they are looking to " correct the blind spots in art history ". Women artists still represent less than 5% of artists sold in modern and impressionist art sales in 2023, a figure that can only increase and hints at a colossal potential for works by women of the École de Paris.

The art market is thus in the process of answering the question posed by Linda Nochlin in the 1970s : why haven't there been any great women artists ?

As it happens, there have been, hundreds and then thousands. They are slowly overturning trends without imposing themselves drastically, in a long but lasting process, encouraged by the production of catalogs raisonnés, monographs and reissues.

Without seeking to catch up historically, today they are appreciated for their talent and at their fair value, recognized individually for their contribution to art history.

A revaluation still incomplete, but with great potential

With regard to the École de Paris for women artists, the rebalancing is underway, but far from complete. There are still few records, but demand is growing. We see a potential of x2 or x3 for certain artists over the next 5 to 10 years.

There have been fewer than 20 million-dollar sales for women artists in modern art today (compared with hundreds for their male counterparts). Of the 100 biggest modern auctions in 2023, only one was for a woman from the École de Paris, Sonia Delaunay.

According to ArtTactic, the market for 20th-century women artists could double in volume by 2030. So we're still a long way from the summit, but the movement is underway and the most visionary see it as a historic opportunity.