What’s Trending in the Art World

2019: what a year that was. The art and design world CHANGED. More of us want to forget 2019 than want to remember it, but it marked a watershed moment in the art world, especially at the end of 2019 as we learned of the impending lockdown of our world. The dust has still not settled on the trends that were begun during the pandemic; namely, that most of the buying public for fine art and great design turned to online sales. 

High end collectors, spending more money than you and me, learned to use the big auction house platforms online. If they didn’t purchase online themselves, collectors of great art and great furniture hired handlers and experts to do the transacting in their stead. The fabulous galleries that continued to serve collectors (like our wonderful and resilient Sullivan Goss) demonstrated their strength and resilience by keeping their clients during this highly turbulent period. 

Five plus years later, in mid-2025, things have changed. The forced, insular nature of the “lockdown” was a harsh teacher, the power and shear number of online sales – handily transacted from home offices and dining room tables – creating a new asset class. During this period, art and high-end design pointedly emerged as investment vehicles over and above their traditional value as objects acquired for pure aesthetic enjoyment in a home.

A recent report by Artnet News predicts that the art market may be returning to more traditional art and more traditional values (and those values are today becoming more and more non-financial). In summary, art as an “industry” is not the primary focus of the art world mid-2025. Predictive financial appreciation is not the primary determinant of the value of a work of art.

Leading indicators are those facts, figures, and trends sourced from Christie’s, Sothebys, and Bonhams-Skinner, as well as from smaller auction houses, galleries, dealers, and tastemakers in the art world. Here are some of the fascinating trends we see mid-year 2025, which may be described as the year 2019’s pandemic-fueled buying trends entered a period of reversal. 

– Fine art sales at auction are down approximately 10% compared to this time last year. Collectors, likewise, are paying ~ 10% LESS for a work of art.

– Next Gen buyers as well as seasoned collectors have hit the pause button on purchases of hot new fashionable art, and are focusing on those works which have a solid track record of both market value and cultural gravity, such as modern masters (those names we all know – Matisse, Pollock, Miró, et al).

– Believe it or not, the fastest growing trend is the purchase of “Old Master” works of art – those big, textbook names of the 17^th through the 19^th centuries in painting, drawing, and sculpture. Sales of “Classic” works have risen 25% over last year’s figures. Christie’s NY in November will sell the collection of luxury resort tycoon Elaine Wynn. The collection is expected to fetch over $75M. The earliest painting in the collection is also one of its highest-estimated lots. J.M.W. Turner’s Ehrenbreitstein, or The Bright Stone of Honour and the Tomb of Marceau, from Byron’s Childe Harold (1835), isestimated at up to $18 million. 

– The ultra contemporary market, which includes works by young and fashionable “art stars” is down 30%, as collectors want comparatively reliable, bedrock cultural value, and are making fewer “trophy” purchases. 

– Art, once nearly commodified as a purchase on which one might be expected to spend millions, is now more often seen as an arena for ALL collectors. For example great thought leaders of the art world, such as the retired head of the Guggenheim, Dr. Mariët Westermann, suggest that museums might begin to share their entire collections “like some of us share Ubers” – as was quoted in Artnet News, September 2025.

Art-wise, the world is becoming more conservative and is welcoming less speculation.

Here are some auctions happening on the platform Artnet. The titles of the auctions reflect this trend of more conservative directions: 

– 20th Century Art Live Now  – This auction showcases the evolution of art throughout the 20th century, highlighting the ways in which artists reacted to, and were inspired by, their predecessors and the world around them.

– GEMS: Collecting Post-War Abstraction – A marquee auction showcasing Post-War Abstraction and Color field painting, this auction offers vibrant paintings and works on paper – a nod to the founding movement of Modern Art in America.

– Museum Grade: Photographs and Prints – September photographs auction highlights the achievements of artists who are currently exhibited in the world’s most prestigious public institutions. And finally …

Premier Prints & Multiples  – This largest print sale of the season showcases works by some of the most popular artists on the market, from striking Pop pieces to bold street art.