Kandinsky's "Murnau with the Church II" sold at Sotheby's for $44.9 million. Photo: Tristan Fewings / Getty Images
According to the report, global art sales in 2025 grew 4% to $59.6 billion.
The growth was driven by auctions and expensive artworks
Public auction sales rose 9% to $20.7 billion, while dealer sales increased only 2% to $34.8 billion, while private auction sales declined about 5%.
According to the report, the growth in 2025 was largely driven by sales of high-value works. The segment of works worth more than $10 million showed significant growth and became the main source of increase in the turnover of auctions.
At the same time, the more mass segment with works up to $50 thousand, which accounts for the majority of transactions, showed a decrease in both value and volume.
The U.S. remains the largest market
The United States retained the top spot in the world with a share of about 44% of global sales. This is equivalent to about $26 billion.
The United Kingdom ranked second with an 18% share ($10.7 billion). In third place was China with 14% of the market ($8.3 billion)
Despite the growth in 2025, the market has still not recovered to 2022 levels when sales exceeded $67 billion (according to previous Art Basel & UBS reports).
