Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips reported their first-half 2025 auction sales, with Christie's leading at nearly $1.5 billion (down 1.9% year-over-year), Sotheby's at $1.2 billion (down 14%), and Phillips at $190.1 million (down 24.5%). The top lot was Piet Mondrian's *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue* (1922), sold for $47.6 million from Len Riggio's collection. Separately, the British Museum announced its inaugural ball on October 18, promoted by director Nicholas Cullinan, and Sotheby's opened its first public art exhibition in Abu Dhabi featuring works by van Gogh, Kahlo, and others. UNESCO launched a Virtual Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects, and Heritage Auctions sold part of Guillermo del Toro's "Bleak House" collection for $1.65 million.
This matters because the mid-year auction data reveals a cooling art market, with all three major houses experiencing declines, though Sotheby's drop improved from the previous year. The British Museum's new ball signals a push to revitalize institutional fundraising and cultural engagement in London. The Sotheby's Abu Dhabi exhibition and UNESCO's virtual museum highlight growing global and digital strategies for art presentation and restitution. The del Toro sale underscores the crossover between film and art collecting, while the Dia Beacon retrospective on Tehching Hsieh reaffirms the enduring relevance of performance art.