1. The Global Art Market

The global art market returned to growth in 2025, with sales increasing by 4% year-on-year to an estimated $59.6 billion. While this marked a welcome shift in the direction of the market following two consecutive years of declining values, the recovery was moderate and uneven, leaving the market below its 2022 peak.

Aggregate sales in the dealer and public auction markets both improved in 2025. Public auction sales showed the biggest uplift year-on-year, rising 9% in value after a sharp contraction in 2024, while the dealer sector rose by just 2%. In contrast, private sales at auction houses declined by 5%. This reversed the pattern of 2024, when public auction sales declined and private sales increased.

Transaction volume remained broadly stable in 2025, rising just 2% year-on-year to 41.5 million. In 2024, lower-priced segments had driven growth despite declining values; in 2025, growth in total transactions was more muted, as dealer volumes edged higher while auction volumes eased slightly.

The US, UK, and China accounted for 76% of global sales, stable year-on-year. The US maintained its position as the leading art market worldwide, accounting for 44% of global sales by value, up 1% year-on-year. The UK was the second-largest market with a stable share of 18%, while China remained third with 14%.

Sales in the US reached $26.0 billion in 2025, growing 5% year-on-year, following two years of decline. Although 2025 was marked by trade policy unpredictability, high-end sales returned to growth. The combined value of fine art works sold at auction for over $10 million increased by nearly 40% in the US. While high-value sales helped the market return to a positive trajectory, sales were still below both their 2022 peak and pre-pandemic 2019 level.

Policy unpredictability associated with the Trump administration in 2025 – particularly in relation to tariffs – was a significant concern for the art trade in the US and globally. Imports of art and antiques to the US, which fuel some of the major sales, rose by 13% in value in 2025 to $9.9 billion, while exports fell by 1%. Some of the disruptive effects of tariffs were mitigated by exemptions, policy reversals, and anticipatory moves to stockpile imports, although many dealers and auction houses noted negative direct and indirect impacts on their businesses in 2025.

Sales in the UK reached $10.5 billion in 2025, up 2% from 2024. While public auction sales grew, dealer sales were more subdued, keeping the overall growth rate to a modest 2%, with total sales still below those achieved in 2019.

Sales in China were stable, increasing by just over 1% to $8.5 billion. Auction sales picked up in the largely domestically focused Mainland China market, while the more internationally oriented market in Hong Kong contracted. In Asian markets outside China, growth was also mixed. Japan – which had bucked the declining trend in 2024 – had a slower year of sales, with values down by 1% in 2025, while South Korea posted gains of 6%.

In France – the fourth-largest market worldwide – sales reached $4.5 billion, up 9% year-on-year and bringing values just above their 2019 level. Performance elsewhere in Europe was mixed, with growth in Switzerland (up 13%), Austria (up 13%), and Spain (up 6%), while the German and Italian markets slowed (down 10% and 2%, respectively).

In 2025, online sales fell to $9.2 billion, their lowest level since 2019. Dealers reported a significant drop in the share of their sales made through exclusively digital channels. Auction house online-only sales were focused on mid and lower price levels, while the highest-priced lots were sold in live sales. As high-end offline sales regained momentum, the share of online-only sales fell 3% year-on-year to 15% of total art market sales. This was down 10% from its peak of 25% in 2020 but remained above the pre-pandemic level of 9% in 2019.