Arts · Facts & sources
5 sourced facts about art, each with the context behind the number. 4 more are in today's round and appear here after it closes.
Answer$450.3 million
It sold at Christie's in New York on November 15, 2017 — about a dozen years after two dealers bought it at a small New Orleans auction.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Salvator Mundi (2017) britannica.com
Answerabout 9 million
The Vatican Museums (6.9 million) and the National Museum of Korea (6.5 million) came next in The Art Newspaper's annual survey.
Source: The Art Newspaper visitor survey, via My Modern Met (2025) mymodernmet.com
Answer52%
More adults made art than attended it — art-making held roughly steady from 2017 even as in-person attendance fell.
Source: National Endowment for the Arts, Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (2022) arts.gov
Answer5.4 million
Museums were the fastest-growing piece in 2023, with value added up 18 percent.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account (2023) bea.gov
Answer44%
The U.S. remained the biggest market by far, ahead of the UK (18%) and China (14%).
Source: Art Basel & UBS, The Art Market 2026 (2025) artbasel.com