That dollar amount results from a -7.2% decline compared to $25.8 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of globally exported paintings and drawings grew by 4.1% starting from $23 billion for 2022.
Paintings and drawings may be subjective art where traditionally beauty resides in the eye of the beholder. What’s statistically indisputable is that exported artwork places among the fastest-growing commodities sold in the international marketplace.
The top 5 most lucrative exporters of paintings and drawings are the United States of America, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Singapore. Collectively, that quintet of major art suppliers generated 79.9% of overall sales of exported paintings and drawings during 2023. That percentage indicates a relatively concentrated set of art exporting nations.
Among continents, suppliers in Asia sold the highest dollar amount for exported paintings and drawings during 2023 with shipments valued at $9.1 billion or 38% of the global total. Close behind in second place were exporters in North America at 35.2% while another 25.5% of total revenues from the international sale of paintings and drawings originated from sellers in Europe.
Tinier percentages came from providers in Latin America (0.8%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (0.27%) led by Australia, then suppliers located in Africa (0.22%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 970110 which encompasses oil, watercolor and pastel paintings as well as drawings. In 2023, two additional codes were implemented: 970191 and 970121. Statistics from all 3 code prefixes are incorporated into the analysis below.
Exported Paintings and Drawings by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of paintings and drawings during 2023.
- United States: US$8.3 billion (34.5% of exported paintings/drawings)
- Hong Kong: $6.1 billion (25.4%)
- United Kingdom: $2.3 billion (9.5%)
- Switzerland: $1.3 billion (5.3%)
- Singapore: $1.2 billion (5.2%)
- mainland China: $1.1 billion (4.4%)
- France: $1 billion (4.2%)
- Germany: $547.6 million (2.3%)
- South Korea: $261.3 million (1.1%)
- Italy: $246.6 million (1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $174.6 million (0.7%)
- Belgium: $163.5 million (0.7%)
- Brazil: $162 million (0.7%)
- Canada: $159.7 million (0.7%)
- Austria: $151.2 million (0.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 96.4% of globally exported paintings and drawings in 2023.
Searchable List of Paintings/Drawings Exporting Countries
The 100 key exporters of paintings and drawings in the following automated database represent 99.98% of the overall value of globally exported paintings and drawings sold in 2023.
| Rank | Exporter | Painting/Drawing Exports (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | United States | $8,253,257,000 |
| 2. | Hong Kong | $6,086,997,000 |
| 3. | United Kingdom | $2,275,003,000 |
| 4. | Switzerland | $1,277,579,000 |
| 5. | Singapore | $1,238,668,000 |
| 6. | China | $1,062,012,000 |
| 7. | France | $1,000,992,000 |
| 8. | Germany | $547,558,000 |
| 9. | South Korea | $261,278,000 |
| 10. | Italy | $246,591,000 |
| 11. | United Arab Emirates | $174,647,000 |
| 12. | Belgium | $163,493,000 |
| 13. | Brazil | $162,036,000 |
| 14. | Canada | $159,696,000 |
| 15. | Austria | $151,165,000 |
| 16. | Japan | $127,690,000 |
| 17. | Spain | $111,118,000 |
| 18. | Netherlands | $65,819,000 |
| 19. | India | $65,386,000 |
| 20. | Australia | $56,053,000 |
| 21. | Andorra | $50,850,000 |
| 22. | Norway | $49,590,000 |
| 23. | Denmark | $46,389,000 |
| 24. | Ireland | $39,770,000 |
| 25. | South Africa | $39,208,000 |
| 26. | Sweden | $27,245,000 |
| 27. | Israel | $20,396,000 |
| 28. | Russia | $14,179,000 |
| 29. | Taiwan | $9,437,000 |
| 30. | Vietnam | $9,136,000 |
| 31. | Greece | $8,375,000 |
| 32. | Thailand | $8,273,000 |
| 33. | Lebanon | $8,088,000 |
| 34. | New Zealand | $7,893,000 |
| 35. | Venezuela | $7,504,000 |
| 36. | Chile | $7,196,000 |
| 37. | Cuba | $6,059,000 |
| 38. | Uruguay | $5,859,000 |
| 39. | Portugal | $5,766,000 |
| 40. | Luxembourg | $5,298,000 |
| 41. | Hungary | $5,006,000 |
| 42. | British Virgin Islands | $4,573,000 |
| 43. | French S./ Antarctic Terr | $4,084,000 |
| 44. | Türkiye | $3,443,000 |
| 45. | Czech Republic | $3,315,000 |
| 46. | Mexico | $3,235,000 |
| 47. | Finland | $2,669,000 |
| 48. | Malaysia | $2,530,000 |
| 49. | Iceland | $2,408,000 |
| 50. | Haiti | $2,337,000 |
| 51. | Morocco | $2,290,000 |
| 52. | Iran | $2,075,000 |
| 53. | Bulgaria | $1,810,000 |
| 54. | Colombia | $1,712,000 |
| 55. | Indonesia | $1,602,000 |
| 56. | Cameroon | $1,395,000 |
| 57. | Mauritius | $1,055,000 |
| 58. | Lithuania | $982,000 |
| 59. | Peru | $948,000 |
| 60. | Ukraine | $945,000 |
| 61. | Serbia | $871,000 |
| 62. | Algeria | $805,000 |
| 63. | Mali | $769,000 |
| 64. | Nepal | $759,000 |
| 65. | Bahamas | $747,000 |
| 66. | Latvia | $560,000 |
| 67. | Estonia | $459,000 |
| 68. | Panama | $442,000 |
| 69. | Saudi Arabia | $420,000 |
| 70. | Congo | $419,000 |
| 71. | Bangladesh | $412,000 |
| 72. | Iraq | $376,000 |
| 73. | Kenya | $367,000 |
| 74. | Croatia | $364,000 |
| 75. | Philippines | $363,000 |
| 76. | French Polynesia | $353,000 |
| 77. | Gabon | $349,000 |
| 78. | Slovenia | $348,000 |
| 79. | Ivory Coast | $344,000 |
| 80. | Costa Rica | $331,000 |
| 81. | New Caledonia | $303,000 |
| 82. | Senegal | $289,000 |
| 83. | Bahrain | $288,000 |
| 84. | Sri Lanka | $277,000 |
| 85. | Slovakia | $255,000 |
| 86. | Georgia | $243,000 |
| 87. | Trinidad/Tobago | $219,000 |
| 88. | Uzbekistan | $213,000 |
| 89. | Cyprus | $201,000 |
| 90. | Cayman Islands | $165,000 |
| 91. | Jordan | $159,000 |
| 92. | Ghana | $157,000 |
| 93. | Argentina | $147,000 |
| 94. | Malta | $140,000 |
| 95. | Curaçao | $134,000 |
| 96. | Azerbaijan | $133,000 |
| 97. | Saint Lucia | $129,000 |
| 98. | North Macedonia | $126,000 |
| 99. | Barbados | $116,000 |
| 100. | Jamaica | $116,000 |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the above table’s columns.
Paintings and Drawings Export Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of international companies engaged in international sales of paintings and drawings. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- Art Sender (Canada)
- Fuzhou Baodeyou Trading Co, Ltd (China)
- Global Star Trading (HK) Limited (Hong Kong)
- Goldbrush Inc (United States)
- Quang Thanh Company Limited (Vietnam)
- Ravi Exports (India)
- Tokyo Fujishokai Co, Ltd (Japan)
- Tumadi Traditional Batik Painting (Singapore)
- YH-Arts Limited (United Kingdom)
- Yuen Young Plastics Co, Ltd (Taiwan)
See also Top Paint Exports by Country, Diamond Exports by Country, Top Sculptures Exporters by Country and Wine Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for paintings and drawings. Accessed on November 15, 2024
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on November 15, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 15, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 15, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 15, 2024
Wikipedia, Fine art. Accessed on November 15, 2024