During New York's spring auction week starting May 12, 2025, major houses Sotheby's, Christie's, Phillips, and Bonhams collectively brought in $1.27 billion, slightly above the estimated $1.25 billion but down 17% from the previous year. The top lot was Piet Mondrian's *Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue* (1922) at $47.56 million, but the mood was tense as trophy works like Andy Warhol's *Big Electric Chair* (1967–68) were withdrawn and several top lots, including Alberto Giacometti's *Grande tête mince* (1955), failed to sell. Amid this volatility, 11 new artist auction records were set, five of which were for women artists, notably Marlene Dumas's *Miss January* (1999) selling for $13.65 million—the most expensive work by a living woman artist at auction.
This matters because the results signal a reset in the upper echelon of the art market, where once-infallible names like Warhol and Giacometti no longer guarantee bidding wars due to generational shifts and economic uncertainty. However, momentum is building in lower and mid-tier segments, with rising transaction volumes among younger and first-time collectors, and accelerating interest in women artists, particularly Surrealists. The record-breaking sales suggest bidders are seeking more than blue-chip inventory, focusing on emerging and mid-career artists with growing momentum, including three represented by David Zwirner.