Art Market Grew 4% in 2025, but Buyers Are Vanishing
The global art market returned to growth in 2025, expanding 4% according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. Yet the headline masks a more fragile picture: galleries are facing higher operating costs, weaker demand, and a political climate that is making the movement of art more difficult, especially in the contemporary sector.
The report points to a sharp drop in the average number of buyers per gallery, which fell to its lowest level since 2021. Smaller businesses were hit hardest, with buyer numbers down 40% last year. One unnamed dealer offered a blunt diagnosis: “interest in art is waning; screens and televisions have replaced pictures in living rooms.”
Protectionism is adding another layer of pressure. On-and-off threats of tariffs from the United States have complicated the flow of art across borders, while shipping, logistics, and art fair participation continue to grow more expensive. For dealers already working with thinner margins, those costs can quickly reshape what gets shown, shipped, or acquired.
The report’s data closed at the end of last year, before the latest escalation in the war in Iran sent oil and stock prices swinging. That matters because, as one industry expert noted, oil “flows into every corner of the industrialised economy. It drives the cost of our heat and light, our plastics and fertiliser, our planes, trains and automobiles.” In other words, the art market is not insulated from broader economic shocks; it absorbs them.
Still, the report does identify some signs of resilience. Clare McAndrew, who authored the study, cites gallery announcements showing that more businesses opened than closed last year, 42% versus 25%. She describes that as evidence that “the market is regenerating.” Noah Horowitz, chief executive of Art Basel, argues that uncertainty is forcing businesses to “recalibrate and adapt with acute strategic focus and discipline,” a process that may strengthen the sector over time.
David Zwirner offered a more measured optimism, suggesting that reduced speculation could give younger artists more room to develop their careers without the distortions of extreme price inflation. Even so, the mood remains cautious. The market may be growing again, but the report makes clear that growth alone does not equal stability.
For now, the art world is left balancing modest recovery against a set of pressures that are economic, political, and structural at once. The question is not simply whether the market can expand, but whether it can do so with a healthier base of buyers and a more durable sense of confidence.
