Impressionist and Modern Art Overtakes Postwar and Contemporary in 2025 Auction Sales
Collectors in 2025 showed a clear preference for established names, and the auction numbers reflect that shift. Impressionist and Modern art became the most lucrative category of the year, generating $4.7 billion in sales and surpassing postwar and contemporary art for the top position. The category’s total rose 29.5 percent from 2024, with especially strong momentum in the $10-million-plus bracket, which reached $1.5 million in sales, up 68.6 percent year over year.
The broader market was not uniformly strong, but it was selective. Postwar and contemporary art finished second at $4.1 billion, a modest 2.5 percent increase. It also recorded the highest number of lots sold in a decade, 178,445, yet the average price per lot fell to a decade low of $23,027. That divergence suggests a market in which volume remained healthy even as pricing softened.
Old Masters delivered one of the year’s most notable gains. Sales in the category climbed 41.2 percent to $708.6 million, helped in part by the Thomas A. Saunders III collection of Old Master works, which Sotheby’s sold in May. The collection realized $65 million, falling $15 million short of its presale estimate, a reminder that even strong material is meeting a more price-sensitive market.
The clearest cooling trend came in ultra-contemporary art, defined as work by artists born after 1974. Sales fell 26.5 percent to $229.9 million, marking a fourth consecutive year of decline. The average auction price dropped to $15,629, a decade low and 72.4 percent below the category’s pandemic-era peak in 2021, when speculation pushed prices sharply higher.
Taken together, the results point to a market that is still active, but more disciplined. Collectors appear to be rewarding historical depth, recognizable names, and relative certainty, while the speculative appetite that once propelled ultra-contemporary art continues to fade.
