Five forces that reshaped the art market in 2025

In 2025, the art market faced significant challenges, including gallery closures and unfavorable auction results in the first three quarters, driven by geopolitical pressures such as US President Donald Trump's tariffs. However, a rebound occurred in autumn, with buoyant fairs like Frieze London and Art Basel Paris, and strong November auctions in New York totaling over USD 2 billion, carrying momentum to Art Basel Miami Beach. Key events included Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* selling for USD 236.4 million at Sotheby's, a record for a Modern work, and a Frida Kahlo self-portrait setting a new record for a work by a woman. Meanwhile, several galleries closed, including Blum, Venus Over Manhattan, Clearing, Kasmin Gallery, Tilton Gallery, and Perrotin and Pace's Hong Kong outposts, while others expanded, such as Thaddaeus Ropac in Milan and Hauser & Wirth in Sicily.

Art Basel Paris 2025 Public Program transforms the city – watch the video

Art Basel Paris 2025 will present a free public program across multiple iconic Parisian venues from October 21-26. Highlights include a multidisciplinary installation by Turner Prize-winning British artist Helen Marten at the Palais d'Iéna, presented by Miu Miu; exhibitions by Fabienne Verdier and a group show curated by Matthieu Poirier at the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine; seven monumental sculptures on Avenue Winston Churchill featuring works by Leiko Ikemura, Thomas Houseago, and Arlene Shechet; and quirky sculptures by Julius von Bismarck at the Petit Palais.

Two legacy galleries open in a Berlin gas station

International gallery Pace has partnered with Galerie Judin to open a new arts hub in a converted 1950s gas station in Berlin's Schöneberg neighborhood. The venue, called Die Tankstelle, features exhibition spaces for both galleries, a café, and a Die ZEIT-branded bookshop. The inaugural exhibition, 'Reverse Alchemy,' runs from May 2 to June 14, 2025, and brings together works on paper by Jean Dubuffet, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Robert Nava. The gas station, originally built in 1954 and abandoned in 1986, was purchased by Juerg Judin in 2007 and renovated by Thomas Brakel and bfs design, with landscape architect Guido Hager adding a garden. It previously housed Das Kleine Grosz Museum from 2022 to 2024.

Observer’s 2025 May Art Fair Calendar (Updated)

Observer has published its updated 2025 May Art Fair Calendar, highlighting a packed schedule of art fairs in New York and around the world. Key fairs include CONDUCTOR 2026 (April 29–May 3), a Brooklyn-based fair focused on artists of the global majority; the Aotearoa Art Fair 2026 (April 30–May 3) in New Zealand; the Clio Art Fair 2026 (May 7–10 and 14–17), known as an "anti-fair" for unrepresented artists; and PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai 2026 (May 7–10), a leading platform for contemporary photography in China. The article notes that May is one of the busiest months in the spring art calendar, with many fairs concentrated in New York City during "Frieze Week."

Joy Labinjo’s Women Take Their Place in the Gallery

Milan's art scene is currently anchored by a series of high-profile exhibitions coinciding with the Miart fair, featuring a diverse range of international talent. Highlights include Joy Labinjo’s vibrant figurative paintings at Tiwani Contemporary, which explore Black domesticity and sisterhood, and Cao Fei’s multimedia investigation into the intersection of technology and global agriculture at Pirelli HangarBicocca. Other notable presentations include Anselm Kiefer’s monumental tributes to female alchemists and historical figures, marking a significant moment for contemporary art in the city.

Mario Schifano, the artist who anticipated Arte Povera and beyond. What the exhibition in Rome looks like

The Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome has opened a major retrospective of Mario Schifano, curated by Daniela Lancioni and titled simply "Mario Schifano," running until July 12. The exhibition reconstructs the career of the Italian artist (1934–1998), who worked across painting, film, and music, and highlights his role as a precursor to Arte Povera. A centerpiece is the reconstructed dining room Schifano created for the Rome home of Marella and Gianni Agnelli in 1968, featuring 14 canvases and a planned but unrealized sand-filled room with a pyramid, a detail revealed by film producer Ettore Rosboch in a conversation with the curator.

Dallas Art Prize winner on pink trees, Texas museums and why ‘it's OK to be kind of hokey’

Massachusetts-based painter John McAllister has been named the winner of the inaugural Dallas Art Prize. The award includes a $20,000 cash prize and the consideration of his work for the permanent collection of the Dallas Museum of Art. McAllister, who is represented by James Fuentes Gallery, is recognized for his vibrant, non-traditional landscapes that utilize a palette of pinks, purples, and yellows to evoke emotional responses rather than literal depictions of nature.

The 10 Most Expensive Auction Works in 2025

The article reports on the ten most expensive auction lots of 2025, led by Gustav Klimt's 'Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer)' (1914), which sold for $236.36 million at Sotheby's, making it the second-most-expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The top end of the market rebounded after a quieter 2024, with the 100 most expensive lots totaling $2.13 billion, up from $1.8 billion the previous year. Nine of the top ten lots were sold during the marquee New York sales in November, where Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips together generated over $2 billion and set 16 artist auction records. The list includes multiple Klimt works from the collection of American philanthropist Leonard A. Lauder, as well as a Vincent van Gogh still life that sold for $62.71 million.

The Sixteen Best Jersey City Art Shows of 2025

The article presents a curated list of the sixteen best art shows in Jersey City from 2025, written by a critic who made a concerted effort to attend every exhibition in town over the past year. The list includes highlights such as Sarah Mueller's solo show "Reconstructions" at Art House Productions, the 5.7 Sculptors Guild exhibition spread across MORA Museum and Firmament Gallery, and Anna Collevecchio's installation at 150 Bay Street. Each entry is accompanied by descriptive commentary on the artists' techniques and thematic concerns.

Hmm, what shall we see at Paris Photo 2025?

Paris Photo 2025, the 28th edition of the international photography fair, returns to the Grand Palais from 13-16 November, hosting 179 galleries from 33 countries. Artistic director Anna Planas emphasizes a program spanning photography's full history, from 19th-century works to contemporary digital and blockchain-based pieces. Highlights include a solo installation by Hasselblad Award winner Sophie Ristelhueber, a darkroom demonstration by photographer Renato D'Agostin, and the 'Emergence' sector featuring Prix Maison Ruinart winner Marine Lanier. The fair also offers conversations, performances, and book signings with artists like Todd Hido and Wolfgang Tillmans, plus an exhibition of Latin American photography from the Estrellita B Brodsky collection.

What If Every City Provided Artists With Free Supplies?

Materials for the Arts (MFTA), a program of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, provides free art supplies and tools to over 4,500 organizations, including public schools, nonprofits, and social justice groups. By diverting millions of pounds of materials from landfills—ranging from film production sets to high-end fabrics—the organization has reallocated over $40 million worth of goods to the creative community. The program's leadership is now advocating for an expansion of this model, envisioning dedicated reuse centers in every borough to meet the growing demand for accessible creative resources.

Master of Madonnas and the Market

Meister der Madonnen und des Marktes

A major exhibition titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" has opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, exploring how the Renaissance master Raphael's work was deeply intertwined with money, prestige, and patronage. The show traces his career from early mentorship under his father and influences from Leonardo da Vinci to his rivalry with Michelangelo, highlighting commissions from wealthy supporters like the aristocrat Elena Duglioli and Pope Leo X, who commissioned Raphael's extravagant tapestries for the Sistine Chapel.

Art as Experimental Setup

Kunst als Versuchsanordnung

The influential Berlin-based artist and professor Thomas Zipp has passed away unexpectedly. Known for his immersive installations that blurred the lines between art, science, and madness, Zipp created complex "experimental setups" involving painting, sculpture, and performance. His work often explored dark parallel worlds, notably evidenced in his haunting 2013 Venice Biennale project that transformed a palazzo into a derelict psychiatric ward.

5 secret jewels to discover in Europe

5 joyaux secrets à découvrir en Europe

L'Œil magazine has curated a list of five European cities rich in art historical treasures, highlighting hidden gems for cultural getaways. The first city profiled is Mainz, Germany, featuring the Romanesque-Gothic Mainzer Dom (Imperial Cathedral of St. Martin), the Gutenberg Museum showcasing the 42-line Bible as a landmark of printing history, and the Church of St. Stephen with its iconic blue stained-glass windows designed by Marc Chagall. The second city is Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where the old town blends ancient Roman ruins (a stadium, forum, odeon, and theater from the 2nd century) with 19th-century Bulgarian National Revival houses, such as the Balabanov, Hindliyan, and Kuyumdzhioglu houses, now converted into museums.

Reopening of the Palais de la Découverte

Réouverture du Palais de la Découverte

The Palais de la Découverte in Paris has officially reopened its doors to the public following an extensive renovation period. The institution returns with a refreshed program that bridges the gap between scientific inquiry and artistic expression, featuring a series of new installations and collaborative projects.

The INHA library will remain open in August

La bibliothèque de l’INHA restera ouverte en août

The National Institute for Art History (INHA) has announced that its library, located in the Labrouste Room in Paris, will remain open throughout the month of August. This decision breaks from the traditional summer closure common among major French academic and research institutions, ensuring uninterrupted access to one of the world's largest collections of art history resources.

On Arte, 'The Stolen Painting' dives into auction houses through the rediscovery of an Egon Schiele looted by the Nazis

Sur Arte, « Le Tableau volé » plonge dans les salles de ventes aux enchères à travers la redécouverte d’un Egon Schiele spolié par les nazis

Director Pascal Bonitzer’s film 'Le Tableau volé' (The Stolen Painting) dramatizes the real-life 2005 discovery of a lost Egon Schiele masterpiece, 'Autumn Sun,' in the modest home of a factory worker in Mulhouse. The narrative follows a cynical auctioneer, played by Alex Lutz, as he navigates the authentication and eventual sale of the work, which was looted by the Nazis from Jewish collector Karl Grünwald during World War II.

The Bahamas returns to the Venice Biennale with a joy-filled posthumous collaboration

The Bahamas will return to the Venice Biennale in 2026 after a 13-year absence with a posthumous exhibition for artist John Beadle, who died in 2024 at age 60. Beadle was originally selected to represent the country in 2015 but the government withdrew funding. The exhibition, titled "In Another Man’s Yard," will feature Beadle’s work alongside that of his mentee, Lavar Munroe, using materials from Beadle’s studio including sails from Haitian migrant sloops. The pavilion is organized by commissioner Amanda Coulson and curator Krista Thompson, who raised private funds after the government declined to support the project.

yale errata exhibition

Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is hosting a new exhibition titled "'Beauties of My Style,'" which explores 500 years of printed errors and errata sheets. Curated by Rachel Churner and Geoff Kaplan, the show features approximately 30 artifacts ranging from James Joyce’s error-riddled first edition of Ulysses to the infamous 1631 "Wicked Bible," which accidentally commanded readers to commit adultery. The exhibition highlights how these slips of paper serve as more than just corrections, acting as sites of humor, legal maneuvering, and poetic reinterpretation.

op ed museums gender and pay

The article examines how gender pay disparities and the fear of a "pink-collar" profession persist in the art museum world, triggered by comments from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about "masculine energy" in the workplace. It recounts a 2020 forum where National Gallery of Art director Kaywin Feldman expressed concern that art museums becoming predominantly female could lower salaries, a remark initially seen as sexist but later contextualized by the author's investigation into the origins of such fears. The author traces the concept to a 2016 New York Times article citing research on how female-dominated fields see pay drops, and explores how even progressive leaders like Feldman can inadvertently perpetuate gender bias.

whitney museum breuer building landmarked sothebys

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated the former Whitney Museum building at 945 Madison Avenue as both an individual and interior landmark. Designed by Marcel Breuer and completed in 1966, the inverted ziggurat structure with raw concrete interior served as the Whitney's home until 2015, later housing the Metropolitan Museum of Art's contemporary art annex and the Frick Collection during its renovation. Sotheby's acquired the building in 2023 and plans to relocate its global headquarters there, with renovations led by Herzog & de Meuron. Preservationist groups pushed for landmark status amid concerns about commercial alterations, and the designation now legally protects the exterior and key interior elements like the lobby and main staircase.

christies marquee fall 20th century evening sale report

Christie’s fall marquee 20th-century evening sales on Monday night generated a combined $690 million across two auctions, far exceeding the pre-sale low estimate of $534.7 million. The first sale featured 18 lots from the collection of the late Robert and Patricia Ross Weis, including works by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, and Rothko, while the second 62-lot sale included pieces by Calder, Hockney, Chagall, and Giacometti. Bidding wars drove 16 lots to sell at or above their high estimates, with adviser Ralph DeLuca winning several high-profile battles, including a Matisse painting for $32.3 million and a Max Ernst sculpture for $20.2 million. The sell-through rate was 97% by value and 96% by lot, with only one withdrawn lot and three unsold works.

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth announces the exhibition - David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth will present "David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time," a solo exhibition organized by guest curator Christopher Blay, running from August 17 to November 2, 2025. The show features new works by multidisciplinary conceptual artist David-Jeremiah, including the final polychromatic EE (Emma Esse) series of seven paintings, and continues his exploration of Black identity, humanity, and ritual through inverted-performance installations centered on the Lamborghini as a symbol of beauty and violence.

Kew Gardens to host largest-ever open-air Henry Moore show

Kew Gardens in London will host the largest-ever open-air exhibition of Henry Moore's sculptures from May to September 2026, titled "Henry Moore: Monumental Nature." Thirty works, including major bronzes like "Large Two Forms" and "Oval with Points (1968-70)," will be displayed across the 320-acre Unesco World Heritage site, with additional pieces in the Temperate House. The Henry Moore Foundation is lending most works, while 90 more pieces—including prints and drawings—will be shown indoors at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, with loans from Tate and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Four sculptures will also be exhibited at Kew's Wakehurst botanic garden in Sussex alongside contemporary commissions.

The Artist Who Painted Pixels Before We Saw in Pixels

Der Künstler, der Pixel malte, bevor wir in Pixel sahen

Reinhard Voigt, a German artist little known to the public, painted grid-based pictures as early as 1968—years before pixels became ubiquitous in daily life. Despite early discouragement from Gerhard Richter and fellow artist Alan Jones, Voigt persisted, creating meticulous works on paper and canvas using transparent paper, rulers, pencil, and oil paint. His first major exhibition, "Pure Pleasure," took place in 2023/2024 in Nuremberg, and his current duo show "High on Low" with Anna-Sophie Berger is on view at Berlin's Kunstraum Grotto, featuring his Word Paintings series. Voigt lives and works in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg with his wife, artist Susan Elias.

Performance, gioco, rischio. Il grande Paul McCarthy è in mostra a Madrid: l’intervista

Paul McCarthy's latest exhibition, titled "A&E," is on view at Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid, part of the SOLO CONTEMPORARY initiative founded by a Spanish collector couple. The show features large-scale works on paper and videos created in collaboration with German actress Lilith Stangenberg, exploring role-play, performance, and the blurred lines between art and entertainment. The acronym "A&E" alludes to historical pairs like Adam and Eve or Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, as well as "Arts & Entertainment." The works stem from private encounters between McCarthy and Stangenberg, with drawings serving as storyboards for videos that capture their improvisational, trance-like interactions.

5 exhibitions in Provence for the 100th anniversary of Fragonard, the historic perfume house

5 mostre in Provenza per i 100 anni di Fragonard, la storica maison di profumi

The historic French perfume house Fragonard is preparing to celebrate its centenary in 2026 with a series of five exhibitions in Provence. Founded in 1926 by Eugène Fuchs and named in honor of the Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the maison has evolved into a significant cultural patron under the leadership of the Costa family. The upcoming celebrations highlight the family's extensive private collections, which span ancient perfume artifacts, traditional Provençal costumes, and fine art, housed across several free public museums in Grasse, Paris, and Arles.

Venice Biennale 2026 Collateral Events Six Of The Best – Nico Kos Earle

The 61st Venice Biennale is described as the most contested and chaotic in recent history, marked by the absence of a curator following the death of Koyo Kouoh and overshadowed by global conflicts that made presentations in national pavilions fraught with difficulty. Amid this turmoil, standout collateral events include Michael Armitage's exhibition 'The Promise of Change' at Palazzo Grassi, curated by Jean-Marie Gallais and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, which uses softly painted scenes to address sociopolitical tensions and post-colonial identity. Another highlight is The Holy See Pavilion, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers, featuring a sonic prayer by Soundwalk Collective with contributions from contemporary composers including Patti Smith.

‘We’re rooted in the local community, but also global’ — inside AlUla Arts Festival

The fifth AlUla Arts Festival has opened in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, running until February 14. The festival features land art, workshops, dance, and musical performances set against the ancient oasis landscape. Highlights include the return of Desert X AlUla with 11 site-specific installations by local and international artists, curated under the theme 'Space Without Measure' inspired by Kahlil Gibran. The exhibition 'Arduna' marks the pre-opening of the upcoming Contemporary Art Museum of AlUla, a collaboration with Centre Pompidou. The AlJadidah Arts District also hosts numerous initiatives, including photography exhibitions at Villa Hegra and concerts by the AlUla Music Hub.

Thai pharma dynasty opens doors to 1,000-piece contemporary collection

The Dib Bangkok museum, housing a 1,000-piece contemporary art collection amassed by the late Thai businessman and musician Petch Osathanugrah, opened this month in a converted 1980s warehouse in Bangkok. The project was completed by his son Purat 'Chang' Osathanugrah, president of Bangkok University and CEO of Zipcode, with inaugural director Miwako Tezuka (formerly of Asia Society Museum) leading the institution. The 7,000 sq. m space, designed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture, features 11 galleries, a courtyard, sculpture garden, and a satellite project space called Dib26.