Print Series Performance 2021-2022
Note: for the most updated 2023 Warhol market data, click here.
Each year, a handful of Warhol prints are outliers: selling far outside the logic of historical value and market conditions, selling far more frequently than average, or selling none at all. Considering the reasons behind the sales performance of these prints can prove invaluable, as they offer insight into the optimal time for selling a print as well as what could make an individual print likely to perform well in the future.
Eight individual published Warhol prints with more than twenty-five sales since 2000 had zero public sales in 2022. Since these prints are in relatively high demand, the next public sales prices are likely to be above average. Birth of Venus has had ninety-five sales since 2000, but sold none in 2022. Moonwalk has had fifty-three sales since 2000, but has not sold a print in the past two years. The relative unavailability of prints from both series suggests that collectors are unwilling to part with their prints.
Print Series with No Public Sales in 2022
On the other end of the spectrum are the ten bestselling prints in 2022. While Ads has sold more prints since 2000 than any portfolio or individual print except Mao, it sank out of the top ten print series by volume this year. Two other perennial top performers were not in the top ten in 2022: Flowers (#7 overall in ‘21, sold only fifteen in ’22) and Cowboys and Indians (#8, sold seven). For each of these portfolios, the below-average sales volume is likely to be due to similar circumstances as the Queen Elizabeth II prints last year, which collectors and investors were hesitant to release onto the market as their value increased.
Two prints saw an unexpectedly high number of sales in 2022 compared to previous years: Marilyn and Electric Chairs. Marilyn, which sold more prints than in any year since 2000, was undoubtedly boosted by the press around the record-breaking sale of Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn painting. Collectors seeking to sell their prints might find a more favorable market when a painting version is also up for sale. Electric Chair, the second-best-selling Warhol print in 2022, has no similar explanation.
Top 10 Print Series by Volume in 2022
Top 15 Print Series by Value Appreciation 2021-2022
The following pages depict the top fifteen prints by value appreciation in 2022. Only three print series remain on the list from the prior year: Campbell’s I, Endangered Species, and Reigning Queens. All sold their most expensive prints ever in 2022. The rest of the top appreciating prints from last year’s report experienced either mild gains or moderate declines in value. This year, the list is filled with mid- and low-tier prints, indicating higher availability of and demand for more accessible Warhols.
The overall performance of the top fifteen prints is more subdued than last year. In 2021, the average increase in value for the top fifteen prints was 100 percent; in 2022, it was 59 percent. This reflects the cooling of the Warhol market without the volatility inherent to other markets in 2022. Although some prints will continue to perform far above average, look for a slight further softening in the overall market in 2023.
Note: to calculate the top 15 prints by value appreciation, 2021-22, each entry in the Published Prints section of the Catalogue Raisonne was considered as a single print.
1) Reigning Queens
APPRECIATION: +218%
2) Alexander the Great
APPRECIATION: +176%
3) Ten Portraits of Jews
APPRECIATION: +73%
4) Campbell's Soup I
APPRECIATION: +66%
5) The Annunciation
APPRECIATION: +60%
6) Truck
APPRECIATION: +40%
7) Endangered Species
APPRECIATION: +39%
8) Ingrid Bergman
APPRECIATION: +36%
9) Neuschwanstein
APPRECIATION: +34%
10) Hans Christian Andersen
APPRECIATION: +30%
11) Jackie I
APPRECIATION: +29%
12) Wayne Gretzky
APPRECIATION: +25%
13) Kiku
APPRECIATION: +25%
14) Ladies and Gentlemen
APPRECIATION: +20%
15) Portraits of the Artists
APPRECIATION: +20%
