If Tracey Emin Were a Man, Would her Market Look More Like Damien Hirst’s?

Even after a 42% decline in 2023, Hirst’s total sales value remained 163% higher than Emin’s, a disparity that has persisted despite Emin’s market doubling in yearly sales value since 2019. While Emin’s market has shown consistent growth, the sheer scale of Hirst’s print production continues to outplace her sales trajectory. In 2024, 100% of Emin’s auctioned prints sold for under £15,000, with her highest-selling work, Birds, achieving £12,000. By contrast, which 89% of Hirst’s prints also sold for under £15,000, 7% reached up to £30,000, and a select view soared to £80,000.

This is not to say that Emin’s market is failing in comparison to Hirst’s - but it is undisputedly following a different trajectory. A trajectory shaped by collector perception, access, and long-standing market structures that have historically favoured male artists. If Emin had followed the same commercial model as Hirst, would her market have evolved in the same way?

Despite both emerging from the same movement, Hirst and Emin have followed dramatically different trajectories. While Hirst was quickly celebrated for his market prowess and bullish ambition, Emin’s deeply personal practice often led to her being framed as an artist of emotion rather than a calculated force in the market - a distinction which continues to shape their markets today. Their markets have been built on entirely different principles: one on scale and mass production, the other on scarcity and selectivity.

Hirst’s market dominance is a numbers game. His print market has been cultivated through strategic collaborations, most notably with HENI Editions, allowing him to release works in large numbers at various price points. This abundance of supply means that Hirst remains constantly present in the primary and secondary markets, with enough volume to fuel consistent sales and ensure a steady price hierarchy, from entry-level pieces to high-value works that break six figures.

Emin’s market, by contrast, has been built on a more controlled scarcity. Her print editions are smaller, her releases more selective, and her presence in the secondary market less frequent. This structure makes her work highly desirable for collectors looking for something specific from her repertoire, but it has also limited price momentum to an extent. Without a wider pool of works in circulation, Emin’s market has struggled to create the kind of sustained auction performance that fuels long-term appreciation.

Beyond pricing and volume, the geographic distribution of their markets reveals another crucial divide. Emin’s primary collector base remains overwhelmingly UK-centric, with 94% of her sales from 2019 to 2024 taking place in the UK. While the UK still accounts for 59% of Hirst’s market, on the other hand, he has successfully cultivated a strong collector base in the US, Europe, and Asia. This international spread has broadened his market appeal and given it greater resilience, insulating it from local economic fluctuations in a way that Emin’s more UK-dependent market has yet to achieve.

Volume and visibility may explain the structural reasons behind the gap between Emin and Hirst, but they do not fully explain the collector hesitancy that has kept Emin’s market from reaching the same level of success.

The perception of value in the art market is so often shaped by bias. Hirst’s high-volume, commercially ambitious approach has been celebrated as a business masterstroke, with the scale of his market seen as a sign of Warholian strength rather than dilution. Emin, however, has never engaged in the mass production of her works, and yet, she has not been rewarded for her selectivity in the same way that other male artists - like Gerhard Richter or Jasper Johns - have. Instead, her “confessional,” “autobiographical” practice has often been framed as too personal, too emotional, or even too niche (at least for a male audience) to generate long-term financial momentum.

This dynamic reflects a broader market reality: male artists who produce at scale are perceived as commercially savvy, while female artists are often scrutinised if they attempt the same strategy. Consider Yayoi Kusama, whose extensive commercial collaborations - while celebrated in Asia - have sometimes been met with skepticism in Western markets. Emin’s deeply personal work - so central to her legacy as an artist - has at times been a double-edged sword, making her critically acclaimed but commercially underappreciated.

Meanwhile, collectors are more inclined to see male artists as long-term investments, reinforcing historical price gaps. The auction house ecosystem plays a role in this too: estimates for female artists remain lower, sale expectations are more conservative, and price ceilings are harder to break. Emin’s work rarely enters the kind of high-stakes bidding wars that drive secondary market surges, meaning that even when her work is in demand, it is not positioned in a way that allows it to reach the same heights.

Would Emin’s prints have broken the £80,000 threshold by now if she had produced at the same volume as Hirst? If her work had been aggressively marketed in the same international arenas, would she be selling more prints in Asia, the US, and Europe? If she had been a man, would collectors have assigned higher long-term value to her deeply personal, emotionally charged prints?

While Emin’s market may not rival Hirst’s in size, she has avoided the oversaturation that has, at times, affected Hirst’s market. Unlike Hirst, whose market has experienced volatility due to oversupply, Emin’s carefully managed releases ensure that her market remains resilient and demand stays strong.

If Emin’s international collector base expands, her market could see a structural shift, allowing her prices to move beyond their current ceiling. The broader market trend towards recognising historically undervalued female artists could also provide a significant uplift, as collectors reassess their portfolios and look for opportunities that have been overlooked.

If the roles were reversed, would Emin be a market titan, or is the art world still unwilling to put female artists on the same pedestal?