Print Market Performance 2023
Prints vs Paintings
Note: for the most updated 2024 Warhol market data, click here.
While Warhol was active in a dozen art forms, from filmmaking to Polaroids, it is his prints and paintings that comprise the vast majority of his market. Paintings performed well in the years following his death. Since the turn of the century, however, their lofty valuations have caused investors to leave them in favor of prints. And for the past decade, prints’ percentage of Warhol art sales revenue has climbed steadily—owing mostly to their relative price accessibility and availability in the market.
Last year, prints as a percentage of total Warhol sales dropped, due in large part to the single $195 million sale of Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn painting. Since there were few public estate sales or marquee Warhol painting sales in 2023, prints reversed their previous drop, rising from 15 percent to a new all-time high of 33 percent. Each successive year demonstrates that Warhol is the future of art, and prints are the future of Warhol.
Prints as a percentage of Warhol Sales
Another Record Breaking Year
If 2022 demonstrated the incredible strength of the Warhol market, 2023 showed its stability and increasing popularity. The volume of prints that came up for sale in 2023 beat the previous record, set in 2022, by 8 percent.
For many markets, that increase in availability would mean an immediate, large decrease in valuation. For Warhol prints, it only meant a return to normalcy. The average print sale price declined 12.2 percent, almost exactly the same as the increase from 2022. If volume remains the same in 2024, look for a slight to moderate increase in valuations.
2023 Volume and Average Sales Price
Lower valuations and a higher number of prints sold still led to a 10 percent decline in revenue from 2022. Looking at the larger picture, though, tells a different story. From 2008–2020, the Warhol print market saw average revenue of $15 million. From 2021–2023, the average is twice as much—$30 million. This appears to be a new, post-COVID normal, as Warhol matures into the dominant force in the fine art print market.
Total Print Revenue
In 2022, a longstanding pattern broke: the average sales price and the median sales price of a Warhol print completely decoupled. One rose by nearly 10 percent, and the other fell by more than 10 percent. It was indicative of what was happening at the top of the market: Queen Elizabeth II, Double Mickey, and a handful of other prints were experiencing above-average increases in valuations.
As expected, the anomaly corrected itself this year, with the average sales price dipping and the median price rising. For a collector looking for a rare high-quality, high-demand print, this could present a good entry point.
Sales of $500,000+ prints dropped to their usual average of one per year. The mid-high end, however, remained firm, with sales of $100,000–$500,000 prints far outpacing their historical average. In fact, sales of those prints doubled from 2020-2021, and have maintained that average since then.
Print Sales by Dollar Band
Quality-Conscious Collectors Return
There are three primary types of print collectors: quality conscious, value conscious, and price conscious.
- Quality-conscious collectors are looking for great artwork. They want a high-quality impression and gravitate toward hard-to-find prints, sometimes with a favorable provenance.
- Value-conscious collectors are looking for a good deal based on the estimated value of the art. They will search until they find the best deal for a quality impression.
- Price-conscious collectors are looking for a low price. They just want to own a Warhol.
Quality-conscious collectors and investors simply want to have the art on their wall. They rarely negotiate, and they will bid or purchase far above the asking price, especially on rare prints, continually resetting expectations for the value of Warhol prints. They were especially active in the market in 2023, bidding up many rare and unique prints.
For example, the Warhol print with the greatest change in public sales price from 2022 to 2023 was Muhammad Ali. On the front of the print, just above the hairline on a pastel pink background, was a bonus signature and quote: “From Muhammad Ali. Love is the net where hearts are caught like fish. Sept. 8-83”.
Quality-conscious collectors also bid up trial proofs, with many far outperforming their regular-edition counterparts—some by as many as two or three times. The significant discrepancy reflects both a market trend and the psychology behind the allure of owning unique pieces. Trial proofs represent a bridge between mass-produced, editioned prints and one-of-a-kind paintings: they are far rarer than prints, but more accessible than paintings. The sense of uniqueness they hold within that space is a powerful draw for quality-conscious collectors.
Prints
Regular
- $257,040
- $171,360
- $71,190
- $138,348
- $172,620
- $162,112
TP
- $496,440
- $504,000
- $277,200
- $275,940
- $264,600
- $363,636
Multiple
- 1.9
- 2.9
- 3.9
- 2.0
- 1.5
- +224%
Prints
Regular Edition
- $257,040
- $171,360
- $71,190
- $138,348
- $172,620
- $162,112
Trial Proof
- $496,440
- $504,000
- $277,200
- $275,940
- $264,600
- $363,636
Multiple
- 1.9
- 2.9
- 3.9
- 2.0
- 1.5
- +224%
*Two trial proof sales in 2023.
**No sales of any edition type since 2020.
Of the fifteen most valuable Warhol prints sold in 2023 of any edition type, six were trial proofs. Their average difference from the regular- edition print average sales price was 2.2 times. Birth of Venus sold for nearly twice its previous record, set four months earlier. Given the stability of the quality-conscious collector presence in the market, the most unique, highest-quality Warhol prints are likely to continue appreciating well.
The previous chart also gives an indication of pricing for value-conscious collectors. Based on its relatively low availability, especially in public sales, values of Moonwalk and its accompanying trial proofs are likely to rise over the next few years. A Marilyn trial proof that can be purchased for less than 2.5 times the average sales price of the regular edition might also make a good investment.
In the following graph, the left-most column shows the sales price by dollar band in 2023; the second column shows the same data for prints that did not sell; and the third column shows the same data for prints that sold above the high estimate.
Price Band Sales Comparison
Prints from $5,000–$10,000, where price-conscious collectors are best-represented, were nearly twice as likely not to sell and half as likely to sell above the high estimate as they should have been. In other words, price conscious collectors were a weak force in the market—and those that participated were unwilling to pay much.
Prints from $100,000–$500,000, however, were 25 percent less likely to not sell, and 33 percent more likely to sell above their high estimate as their overall representation would indicate. Unlike the markets of many other artists, the Warhol print market continues to be dominated by the twin forces of quality- and value-conscious collectors, providing long-term stability and security.