Alighiero Boetti Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Alighiero Fabrizio Boetti (Turin, 1940 - Rome, 1994) His approach to art was precocious.

It is a special bond that binds Capitolium Art to the city of Rome: our Roman headquarters is located in Mario Schifano's former studio, a place of great importance for the history of Italian art; Our experts will thus be able to personally and quickly evaluate the artist's works. After a school interest in Poul Klee, he discovered Fontana's cuts and oriental art. Read the full biography

Guide to Alighiero Boetti price quotations

Production

Alighiero Boetti's artistic production was initially linked to the environment of his hometown. In Turin he participated in Arte Povera becoming an official member. The works are characterized by the use of commonly used materials and seriality: eternit, wood, paper, iron, glass, fabric, postcards. Human intervention is reduced to just the thought that determines the composition of the finished work. In the early 1970s, interest in geography and geopolitics intensifies. The first trips to Afghanistan, the move to Rome and the definitive detachment from Arte Povera take place. Boetti's work focuses on the use of calligraphy and the word as an art form, the tapestry technique and the ballpoint pen.

Since the mid-1970s, travel has played a fundamental role in the process of maturation of Boetti's artistic idea where contamination and eclecticism become an aesthetic feature.

How to evaluate a work by Alighiero Boetti

The necessary condition to be able to approach an evaluation process for a work by Alighiero Boetti is to be certain of its authenticity which can only be confirmed in the presence of a written certificate from the Alighiero Boetti Archive in Via Valadier in Rome, directed by Matteo and Agata Boetti.

Other characteristics that must then be considered to determine the specific historical context of the work and its technical structure are the provenance, any publications and bibliography, the technique, the year of execution, the dimensions and last but not least, the state of conservation.

Detailing the history of a work always guarantees greater commercial attractiveness, especially in the presence of origins from authoritative collections or official publications. The general catalog published by Electa in three volumes between 2009 and 2015 edited by Jean Christophe Amman is a fundamental tool for comparing and identifying the works. Boetti also participated in five Venice biennials and the fifth and seventh edition of Documenta in Kassel.

In the case of multiple works (printed on paper, canvas or sculpted), the print run must be considered more carefully, which indisputably indicates the number of copies produced.

Brackets and coefficient

Once the certainty of authenticity has been determined, historical data from past sales of works that share the same historical, technical and qualitative characteristics with the specimen to be evaluated must be traced. Such data can be extrapolated with an expert eye from the catalogs and price lists of auction houses but also from private and gallery sales that only the experience of the professional appraiser can know.

In light of these considerations we can identify some scales and evaluation parameters that will allow us to briefly identify the value of a work. Usually the sum of these factors is indicated with the name of coefficient which is nothing other than a numerical index expressed in points which will be multiplied by the dimensions of the work (identified in the sum of the base and height) to be evaluated. Clearly only the intervention of an expert evaluator will be able to determine whether or not the operation is valid.

Market

Alighiero Boetti's market is quite young and should be considered from the early 2000s when the average prices started to rise. There was a first peak in 2014 which was followed by a period of slow decline until 2022. Within a year the 2014 prices doubled and almost tripled as in the case of tapestries. This condition indicates a moment of great speculation which determines uncertainty about a possible continuity of growth but which also fuels the hopes of some more unscrupulous investors. For those who have undertaken investments in unsuspecting times, have purchased one-offs or have inherited, the moment is absolutely recommended for selling. However, given the constant growth in prices over the last twenty years and the artist's consequent acquired economic consistency, the purchase is recommended for long-term investments.

Values

1960s: it is difficult to establish a general yardstick for Boetti to guide him in evaluating a work from this period. The variety of production, the vertical growth of prices and the limited supply due to the rarity of the works combine to make it impossible to define a generic and unitary evaluation yardstick. The evaluations will therefore be developed on the basis of specific works.

Alighiero Boetti Biography

Alighiero Fabrizio Boetti (Turin, 1940 - Rome, 1994) His approach to art was precocious.

It is a special bond that binds Capitolium Art to the city of Rome: our Roman headquarters is located in Mario Schifano's former studio, a place of great importance for the history of Italian art; Our experts will thus be able to personally and quickly evaluate the artist's works. After a school interest in Poul Klee, he discovered Fontana's cuts and oriental art. He began traveling from a young age and studied and practiced engraving in Paris. Between 1963 and 1965 he carried out research on the use of different materials, such as plaster, plexiglas and various light devices. His first works depict industrial objects and are drawings on paper, engravings and monotypes. In 1966 he dedicated himself to the first three-dimensional works, referring to everyday objects, according to the concept of accumulation. Together with Anselmo, Calzolari, Fabro, Kounnelis, Merz, Paolini, Penone, Pistoletto, Prini and Zorio, he took part in the Arte Povera movement, from which he broke away after a short period. His work is based on the concepts of seriality, repetitiveness and authorship of the work of art. He takes part in important events and exhibitions all over the world, always traveling with a curiosity for knowledge.