Author: Salome Zaalishvili
The art market has been in decline for the third year in a row. Current global politics, financial crisis, tensions and wars are heavily impacting the decision making of buyers, collectors and auction houses across the globe. Looking at the statistics - auction sales for the first half of 2025 at the three biggest auction houses currently on the market fell to almost $4 billion, a drop of 6% compared to the same period in 2024. The auction total is down 44%, $3 billion from 2022, following the initial post pandemic recovery. These numbers are making auctioneers and collectors discuss a deep ongoing crisis in the art industry.
SALES IN THE GLOBAL ART MARKET 2009-2024
Art Economics 2025
Contemporary and modern art in peak popularity
RENE MAGRITTE (1898-1967)
L'empire des lumieres
2025 largely continues the trends of 2024, contemporary and modern art is currently experiencing a high demand with surrealist art remaining as the top selling, with Magritte again topping the list, the most expensive piece sold in 2025 so far is L'empire des lumieres sold for USD 34,910,000, Magritte’s another piece La reconnaissance infinite (1933) sold for £10.3 million ($13.7 million) in The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale held in London by Sotheby’s.
PIET MONDREAN (1872-1944)
Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Grey, Yellow, Black, and Blue (1922)
Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Grey, Yellow, Black, and Blue (1922) sold for $46.7 million in New York becoming the second most expensive Mondrian painting to date.
Contemporary and modern art highs and lows
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Baby Boom, 1982
Works by Jean - Michel Basquiat are becoming increasingly more popular amongst art collectors, in total 31 works by Basquiat were sold so far in 2025, none of the pieces sold have gone over the record price of US$46,479,000 paid for artist’s work titled Untitled (ELMAR) in 2024, but the numbers are still impressive with most lots going over the estimated sale price. The most expensive lot titled Baby Boom was sold by Christie’s at the Evening sale held in May in New York for US$23,410,000.
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)
Grande tête mince
Despite the high demand and record breaking numbers for Giacometti’s work in 2024, the lot rumored to be the most expensive - Grande tete mince, estimated to sell for $70 million in 2025 was interestingly not sold, bidding stalled at $64.25 million and ultimately didn’t result in a sale. The second and third most expensive lots at the Modern Evening Auction were works titled Homme Assis by Pablo Picasso and La Traversée difficile by René Magritte, selling for $15 and $10 million respectively.
Shift in buying trends of the new generation
It’s interesting to note that according to research the rich are getting richer, In 2024, the number of billionaires rose to 2,769, up from 2,565 in 2023, the top 10% of Americans added $37 trillion to their wealth since Covid, marking a 45% increase. The demand in art and the increase in wealth isn’t correlating. The logical explanation is that the taste and interest of the new generation of millennial and Gen Z collectors is shifting, the new generations grew in an ever-evolving digital world with vastly different values and tastes than the previous generations and with most of the wealth slowly shifting to them the trends ought to change. Despite the decreased demand in art, other markets are having a positive year, jewelry, high end cars and watches, memorabilia are all making good sales, and the auction houses are having to slowly adjust.
GOODING & CO
Gooding & Company - a classic car auction house was acquired by Christie’s in 2024, thanks to this acquisition luxury item sales have surged 29% to $468 million in the past year.
Women artists take on the world
MARLENE DUMAS (B. 1953)
Miss January (1997)
Marlene Dumas set the highest auction price ever for a woman artist - $13.6 mil this year with her painting Miss January (1997). Tamara de Lempicka led Sotheby's $85m 'Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction' in London, her work titled La Belle Rafaëla sold for an impressive 7,475,000 GBP.
TAMARA DE LEMPICKA (1894-1980)
La Belle Rafaëla
Old master paintings remain in demand
FRANCESCO GUARDI
Venice, A View of the Punta della Dogana and the Church of Santa Maria della Salute;
Venice, A View of the Churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and Santa Maria della Salute
This year we saw the Most valuable single owner old master paintings to come to auction valued at over $100 million, the collection was auctioned by Sotheby’s, with the most expensive lot being a set of paintings by Francesco Guardi titled Venice (10,500,000 USD) depicting “what the city of Venice to offer its visitors”.
GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL, CALLED IL CANALETTO (VENICE 1697–1768)
Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day
The most expensive old master painting sold so far in 2025 is the work titled Venice by IL CANALETTO, sold by Christie’s at their Old Master’s Evening Sale in July for GBP 31,935,000 ($42,900,000).
The emerging Asian art market
Over the past two years the emerging Hong Kong art market has pushed the largest auction houses in the west - Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips and Bonham's to open headquarters there allowing them to hold larger auctions and offer better and more expensive lots to the bidders.
Despite the growing auction house presence Chinese art buying has slowed since the pandemic: auction sales in Hong Kong and mainland China fell by 33% to $576m in 2024 compared with the previous year, the lowest level since 2017.
CHINESE ART
Hong Kong
Despite growing interest in contemporary western art, Asian art market favors art by mostly local artists, with the Chinese Art auction held in Hong Kong in May being the highest grossing Sotheby's auction of the year in the region.
The middle east - new horizon for the auction houses
SOTHEBY'S INAUGURAL AUCTION
Riyadh, Abu Dhabi
The middle east continues to be a lucrative market for the art sellers. After Dubai and Doha Sotheby's announced its official incorporation in Saudi Arabia and a new office in Riyadh late last year. The auction titled "Origins” was the inaugural auction held in February of this year. Expectations were high and they were for the most part realized, but it has to be noted that the vast majority of bidders were more interested in luxury goods rather than art. 
FERNANDO BOTERO (1932-2023)
Man on Horse
The most valuable lot, estimated to be worth 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 USD Fernando Botero’s Man On Horse was not sold.
LOUAY KAYYALI (1934-1978)
Then What??
The most in demand at the auction were artists from the region, including Syrian artist Louay Kayyali, whose work “then what??” regarded as one of the most iconic images in the realm of modern Arab art sold for $900,000.
Christie’s auction success and the largest auctions realized in 2025
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
Femme à la coiffe d'Arlésienne sur fond vert (Lee Miller)
The largest auction of the year so far was held by Christie’s. Barnes & Noble Founder’s Widow auctioned art worth over $250 million, including works by Piet Mondrian, Rene Magritte and Pablo Picasso. The most expensive piece sold at this auction was Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue by Piet Mondrian with the final price of USD 47,560,000, while Pablo Picasso’s Femme à la coiffe d'Arlésienne sur fond vert (Lee Miller) fetched USD 28,010,000.
CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926)
Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule
Second largest auction of the year was Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale held in May (sale total being USD 217,004,800) two most expensive lots were works by Claude Monet titled Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crépuscule sold for USD 42,960,000 and Mark Rothko's No. 4 (Two Dominants) [Orange, Plum, Black] which sold for USD 37,785,000.
MARK ROTHKO (1903-1970)
No. 4 (Two Dominants) [Orange, Plum, Black]
Changes inside the largest auction houses and future expectations
CHEYENNE WESTPHAL, former global chairwoman at Philipps
Dubbed the most powerful woman in the art world
A strong player on the market the Philipps auction house has been having a not so savory period, with disappointing numbers achieved during evening sales in the first half of the year the auction house has been relying on lower priced lots to sustain its season. Resignation of chairwoman Cheyenne Westphal marks the second major change at Phillips’s in less than a year—a clear reflection of the ongoing challenges in the company’s management and finances.
It has to be noted that Phillips is rolling out a new interesting new strategy with the debut of a “dynamic model” and revised fee structure. Starting from the current month bidders will be able to lock in reduced fees by expressing early interest in a lot via a priority binding written bid—at or above the published low estimate—submitted at least 48 hours before the auction begins. It’ll be interesting to see if this strategy pays off and if other major players in the industry will also adapt it in the future.
ArtTactic, 13th February, 2025
Despite an uncertain market researchers are still optimistic. According to statistics sell-through rates have been steadily rising in the last few years and this trend is expected to continue. The largest strategic change in 2025 has been the obvious shift to digital marketing, bidding and auctions as well as luxury retail. Auction houses are set to match the taste and expectations of younger buyers, giving hope that the end of the year will be financially successful for the global art market.
