Gerhard Richter - Focus Report
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The present report surveys the auction market from January 2004 to December 2023 for
Gerhard Richter’s Monumental Abstrakte Bilder (Abstract Paintings) “MAB”, measuring 200 cm
or more and created between 1985 and 1994. It exclusively features sales of paintings listed in
the artist’s catalogue raisonné.
Given that the value of the US$ changes over time, and that US$1 in 2004 is not equivalent to
US$1 in 2023, the prices mentioned in this report have been adjusted for inf lation using the
December 2023 US CPI-U index (Consumer Price Index), unless stated otherwise. This method
allows us to reasonably compare auction sales data over a 20-year period by adding the ef fects
of price inf lation to all such prices from the time of their sale to December 2023. Sales prices
include buyer’s premium, but pre-sale estimates do not.
Repeat sales were taken into account when at least one of the occurrences took place after
January 1, 2004. Where there are several repeat sales for an artwork, the CAGR and holding
period are calculated between each occurrence.
The information contained in this report has been analysed by ArtExplored and is based on
ArtExplored proprietary data. Sales details for these works can be found in the annex at the
end of this report.
LIST OF TERMS USED IN THIS REPORT:
Lots of fered: Artworks of fered for sale at auction.
Lots sold: Artworks successfully sold at auction.
Sell-through rate: The percentage of lots sold compared to the number of lots of fered.
Average price: The mean price of the lots sold.
Repeat sales: The number of times that an artwork was resold at auction. If an artwork was sold
twice, it counts as one repeat sale. If it was sold three times, it counts as two repeat sales, etc.
CAGR: The Compound Annual Growth Rate is the annualized average rate of return achieved
by an artwork over a specif ic holding period. It can be calculated when there are repeat sales
involved.
Average CAGR: The mean CAGR achieved by all repeat sales.
Pre-sale estimates: The price range within which a lot is expected to sell at auction. It is
communicated by the auction house prior to a sale but is often not publicly disclosed for higher-
value artworks eg 20M 40M
Presale midestimate The average of the low and high estimates eg 30M
Price to midestimate ratio The relation between a the achieved auction sale price and b
the presale midestimate This ratio expresses as a percentage the dif ference between the
auction sale price and the presale midestimate of a work over its presale midestimate
It serves as an indicator of the extent to which a sale price has exceeded or fallen short of its
estimate
eg Sales price Presale midestimate Presale midestimate Price to midestimate
ratio So for a 40M sales price and a 30M midestimate 40M 30M 30M 33
Buyers premium The additional fees that the buyer will pay on top of the hammer price the
winning bid at auction
Withdrawn from auction This means that a lot was removed for sale by the vendor or the
auction house prior to the auction
Methodology