The numbers of Abakanowicz

Wiktor Komorowski, Julia Niżnik

Magdalena Abakanowicz is one of the most renowned Polish visual artists. She is recognizable not only in the Polish market but also among international collectors. Despite 61% of the turnover of her works remaining in the domestic market, the volume of sales in foreign markets, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, remains equally significant. The circle of international collectors is expanding to include countries like Japan, Sweden, and Hungary. 

Especially after the recent success of the artist's exhibition at the Tate Modern in London, there has been a steady increase in Magdalena Abakanowicz's position in the international auction market. This applies to both the quantity of sold works and the prices achieved for auctioned items. In the last five years, the number of sold works by the artist has increased fivefold. Additionally, in 2021, the global turnover of Abakanowicz's works reached $9.8 million, compared to $1.6 million in the previous year. In 2021, during the Desa Unicum auction, "Crowd III," a set of 50 monumental figures, was sold for PLN 13.2 million (€2.98 million), setting a record for the Polish art market. Magdalena Abakanowicz's "Crowd III," became the first piece of art in Poland to exceed PLN 10 million (€2.26 million) and also became the artist's most expensive composition worldwide.

Quantifying Abakanowicz

Analyzing the sales distribution, sculptures have the largest share in the revenue from sold works and quantity, similar to the categories created by Abakanowicz herself, which are the most recognizable among her works. Drawings and works on paper occupy the second position, also representing a significant part of her creative output. Starting from the 4445th place in the global artist ranking by Artprice in 2000, she rose to the 460th position in 2023, joining the TOP 500 artists. This is due to the presence of Magdalena Abakanowicz's works in the most important collections and contemporary art museums worldwide, generating increased interest from foreign collectors and investors. These include both private individuals and museums or institutions investing in art. Taking 2016 as the base year, the investment in Abakanowicz's works from 2016 to 2022 had a significantly higher price index and, consequently, a higher return on investment compared to the price index of S&P500 companies. This growth dynamic in Abakanowicz's work prices is confirmed by the double sale of the artist's fabric titled "Dorota," which reached PLN 56,640 (€12,796) at auction in 2016 and was auctioned for PLN 519,000 (€117,254) in 2020, representing an 816% increase. The artist's growing position is evident not only in the increasing frequency of record prices in recent years and the overall growth in sales volume and value but also in the decreasing number of unsold positions at auctions. In the years 2000-2015, the percentage of unsold works was slightly over 35%, while in the years 2016-2023, it dropped to 10.5%, indicating increased demand for the artist's works.

Magdalena Abakanowicz is an artist who has already made her mark in history. Her creativity can be presented in numbers, but the beauty of her work can be found in the pieces themselves, which can be viewed from November 10 to 23 at the DESA Unicum headquarters at Piękna 1a in Warsaw.  As Abakanowicz used to say, "Art is not a profession or a skill. It is a necessity and a way of existence."