2019: what a year! The art and design world CHANGED that year, and we thought it had changed forever. More of us want to forget the year 2019 because important changes happened to the consumer market for fine art and design. 2019 marked a watershed moment in the art world, especially at the end of 2019 as we learned of the impending lockdown.

The dust still hasn’t settled on the trends begun during the pandemic, namely that most of the buying public purchased fine art and great design online. High-end collectors, who often spend more money than you and me, learned to use the big auction house websites. If they didn’t purchase online themselves, collectors of great art and furniture hired experts. The galleries that continued to serve collectors, like our wonderful and resilient Sullivan Goss, showed their strength and kept their clients during this highly turbulent period.

Five plus years later…

In mid-2025, things have again changed. The forced, insular nature of the “lockdown” taught us a harsh lesson. The sheer number of online sales from home offices and dining room tables 2020-2023 created a new asset class: art and high-end design purchased not so much for pleasure or status but for investment purposes, similar to a purchase of stock in a hot corporation.

A recent report by Artnet News predicts the art market may return, as we progress through 2025, to more traditional art and traditional values. Those values are becoming less financial, more about the purchases of traditionally classic art.

In summary, art as an “industry” isn’t the primary focus of the art world in mid-2025. Money isn’t the primary determinant of the value of a work of art as I write this newsletter, according to the databases that track trends and sales. Leading indicators are those facts, figures, and trends sourced from Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams-Skinner, as well as smaller auction houses, galleries and dealers, including tastemakers in the art world.

Fascinating trends mid-year 2025; a year of a reversal of trends set back in 2019:Fine art sales at auction are down approximately ten percent compared to this time last year. Collectors, likewise, pay at ten percent LESS for a work of art.Next Gen buyers as well as seasoned collectors pressed pause on purchases of hot new fashionable art. They now focus on those works with a solid record of accomplishment, such as Modern Masters—those names we all know.The fastest growing trend is the purchase of “Old Master” works of art—big names of the 17th through 19th centuries in painting, drawing, and sculpture. “Classic” works of art sales rose twenty-five percent over last year’s sales. For example, Christie’s NY in November will sell the collection of luxury resort tycoon Elaine Wynn. The collection is expected to fetch over $75 million. The earliest painting in the collection is also one of its highest-estimated lots. Joseph Mallord William Turner’s Ehrenbreitstein, or The Bright Stone of Honour and Tomb of Marceau from Byron’s Childe Harold, estimated at up to $18 million.The ultra-contemporary market, which includes works by young and fashionable “art stars” is down thirty percent as collectors want reliable track records of a work’s value, and make less “trophy” purchases.Art, once seen as a reason to pay millions, is now seen as an arena for ALL collectors. Great leaders of the art world, such as the retired head of the Guggenheim, Mariet Westermann, suggests museums might begin to share their entire collections, “like some of us share Ubers,” quoted in Artnet News, September 2025.The world is becoming more conservative and less speculative.

Here are some auctions happening on Artnet. The titles of the auctions reflect this trend of more conservative directions:

20th Century Art Live Now
This auction showcases the evolution of art throughout the 20th century, highlighting the ways artists reacted to, and found inspiration in their predecessors and the world around them.GEMS: Collecting Post-War Abstraction
A marquee auction showcasing Post-War Abstraction and Colorfield painting. This auction offers vibrant paintings and works on paper—a nod to the founding movement of Modern Art in America.Museum Grade: Photographs and Prints
September photographs auction highlights the achievements of artists who currently exhibit in the world’s most prestigious public institutions. And Premier Prints & Multiples: Biggest prints sale of the season showcases works by some of the most popular artists on the market, from striking Pop pieces to bold street art.

 

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