Sotheby's and Christie's held a series of high-profile auctions in New York in late 2025, generating a combined $2.2 billion from major collections including the Leonard A. Lauder collection, the Cindy and Jay Pritzker collection, and the Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis collection. Star lots included Gustav Klimt's portrait of Elisabeth Lederer ($236.4m), a Vincent van Gogh still life ($62.7m), a Frida Kahlo self-portrait ($54.7m), and a Mark Rothko abstract ($62.2m). Despite these strong results, the total was still 30% below the equivalent sales in 2022, and the article notes a growing number of contemporary gallery closures in 2025.
This matters because the art market's apparent recovery may be uneven, mirroring a 'K-shaped' economy where the ultra-wealthy continue to drive spending at the top end while middle and lower tiers stagnate. According to the World Inequality Report 2026, the richest 0.001% now control three times more wealth than the poorest half of humanity, and art over $1 million accounts for 77% of auction sales value but only 7% of lots. The article questions whether this top-heavy rebound is sustainable or merely a temporary boost from prestigious consignments, with experts like Anders Petterson of ArtTactic suggesting a possible V-shaped recovery for high-value works but little trickle-down effect.