The "Top 10 Classics Over €100,000" features the most representative artists of significant Romanian art—based on recent market results—and provides a visual overview of their standing, record prices achieved, and artwork valuations.

The "Top 20 Probabilities" list highlights 20 historically significant artists—recognized by experts but currently undervalued on the market (priced between €500 and €5,000). These artists have seen only modest market performance in recent years, largely due to a lack of major exhibitions by the national museum network to bring them back into the spotlight and a scarcity of specialized literature, even though their works are permanently displayed in all major Romanian art museums.

The "Top 13 Super-Contemporary Artists to Watch" presents a selection of young artists active on the contemporary art scene, along with the reasons why IMA predicts their market value will rise in the future.

2021 proved to be the best year yet for contemporary art, with Artmark auctions recording total sales of €2.59 million, compared to €2.35 million in 2020. This represents a 10.2% increase in 2021 relative to the previous year. Meanwhile, classical art sales at Artmark totaled €5.60 million in 2021 (out of a total auction sales figure of €12.60 million). In the classical art category, total sales remained close to the previous year's figure of €5.68 million.

In the chapter of heritage art, auctions remained at the same level - EUR 2.38 million in the first half of 2021 compared to EUR 2.39 million in the first half of 2020, and the lack of an increase is explained by the obvious reduction in the supply of heritage art, given the increasingly rare appearance of important heritage works on the Romanian art market, the supply being naturally limited and most of them being anyway blocked in museums or in important private collections.

In correlation with the doubling of the number of charitable auctions, in a year that disoriented, disheartened and challenged, but also with the increase by 20% in commercial transactions in what concerns art and collector's items - probably counter-intuitively, for most of us - we can conclude that in moments of tension, many Romanians have opted more clearly for fundamental and sustainable values, such as art, cultural identity, national history - and, last but not least - charity. Summarizing the figures, we can conclude that in 2020 the average Romanian has become (or proved to be) 30% more empathetic and more culturally refined.

Buying art online, from any corner of the world, became possible with the advent of auction houses operating exclusively in the virtual environment, with this early technologisation becoming an advantage for the art business as all offline activity came to a halt. The motivations for buying art in times of pandemic, however, are different, with passion gradually being replaced by concern for financial security and art becoming more of a long-term investment.

This report aims to provide a brief foray into the events that have led to the continued growth of the art market in recent times, and an exploration of how the new global situation will have a profound effect on everyone involved - from artists, to galleries and auction houses, to the running of art events, as well as the buying process and motivation to invest in art. As in education, the forced digitization brought about by the pandemic and the social distancing measures imposed is also bringing about a paradigm shift in the art world. We aim to ask questions, to analyse from various angles and to compare the current context with that of the economic crisis of 2008-2009, without having answers or advice on how to adapt to the post-COVID19 world, but only with an exhortation to embrace this transformation of all of us.

It should be noted, however, that this market report is not intended to represent and is not a taste guide to personal investment in Romanian art. Each work is unique, with its own identity, its own context and its own history, connoting different cultural values, for which only the final recipient finds the ultimate use. Our aim is to provide you with information and expertise on how you can "navigate" today's complex art world and how to interpret the data that is frequently circulated about this market, which is growing more interesting and international every year.