The year 2025 is here already, it is here with equal parts promise and caution. 2024 wasn’t a great year for the art market, but everyone is now speculating whether 2025 would improve things or further go down the drain.
Here are some trends that might dominate the art scene this year:
Market Shifts From Eye-grabbers to steady players
For a few years, there has been a growing lack of billionaire collectors. The global economy, as well as a shift to more appealing luxuries like cryptocurrencies, have made the record-smashing auction sales a rarity. In 2024, L’empire des lumières by René Magritte was sold for $121.6 million – the only $100M+ work in the year, and significantly lower than the most expensive works in the previous years.
Thus, auction houses are now strategizing to focus on blue-chip and mid-range artworks in the range of $100,000 and $5 million. They are also putting a highlight on digital art and street art to capture the younger demographics.

Celebrities On the Rise
While nothing out of the ordinary happened in 2024, the year did support the trend that has been growing for the past few years: the rise of celebrity auctions. The interest in celebrity memorabilia has been one of the few outliers in a generally declining art market. 2024 saw ruby slippers from the 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz” being sold for $3.5 million and John Lennon’s guitar being auctioned for $2.9 million. Perhaps the highlight was the auction of Freddie Mercury’s personal collection at Sotheby’s which ended up fetching more than $50 million.
In the coming year, we will see a continued rise in interest in celebrity memorabilia. There is also a growing market for artworks created by celebrities (as in the case of Anthony Hopkins) as well as the ones collected by celebrities (as in the case of Jim Carrey) – both cases leading to unusual media attention and hype.

Spring Might Be The Comeback Season
2024 was a cautious year for the art market. The fall of 2024 was particularly poor due to factors like the decline in the Chinese economy and the crackdown of Russian oligarchs. However, experts believe that the upcoming spring season might herald a welcome change of pace. The rising demand for blue-chip and mid-range artworks, combined with a growing presence of Middle Eastern elites, might just be what’s needed to kickstart the year on a positive note. Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s have a slate of auction sales set in for the spring, while minor auctions include Gardener Galleries, Hutchinson Art Centre, and Barridoff Auctions.