The Croatian art market is small, unregulated, non-transparent, and weakly encourages the creativity of young visual artists. We do not know exactly how much the market is worth, there are many under-the-table transactions, and enthusiasts who have been fighting for years to bring order keep their heads above water. The pandemic did not help us much, nor did the earthquakes that destroyed our most active museums like Mimara and the Museum of Arts and Crafts.
However dramatic this may sound, we are actually no worse than other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, which function more or less the same due to legal and other circumstances. Believe it or not, things in the domestic art market are starting to improve, and with the strengthening of economic activity, we will be helped by – the Romanians.
After opening a branch in Croatia back in 2022, with the first two quite successful auctions at the end of last year, Artmark, an auction house based in Romania with branches in Bulgaria, has introduced itself to the Croatian market. It is a sharp competitor to Kontura, the only serious auction house in Croatia dedicated to visual arts, specifically painting, and it is expected to stir and revive a market that is more than ready and full of potential. Thus, this year we will have two Kontura auctions and 5 Artmark auctions, instead of a total of three last year, and it is estimated that the market could more than double in a few years, reaching a transaction value of even around 10 million euros, say sources from Lider with whom we have briefly examined the trends.
They say that with the increase in economic activity, appetites in the art market are also growing, people have more money they are willing to spend on beautiful art, whether they are enthusiasts, collectors, or investors. Increased activity is also noticeable in galleries, in the primary art market, and interest in appraisals of paintings by appraisers is also rising, says Zdravko Mihočinec, director of the Kontura auction house and a permanent court expert for the appraisal of artworks, one of five in Croatia. Kontura has been conducting auctions since the early 2000s, and in good years there were four annually, but there was a long pause during the pandemic. Last year, Kontura had only one auction at the Zagreb Fair, and for this year, two are planned, with a possible return to four in the future.
