Artmarket.com publishes its 32nd Artprice Annual Report - The Art Market in 2025 - showing 12% growth, with the USA strengthening its dominant position. Plus… Gemini Deep Think's AI audit of Artprice's strategy for 2026/2030
All prices quoted in this Artprice by Artmarket report refer to public auction results, including buyer's premiums. All dollar symbols ($) refer to the US dollar.
The general health of the Art Market in 2025 was relatively positive, with sales showing strong growth and a record number of works sold (+6.5%) and a 12% growth in global art auction turnover.
In volume terms, 2025 stood out as the most dynamic year in the history of the global art market, with 1.28 million artworks offered for sale and 867,000 works sold.
According to thierry Ehrmann, CEO of
China took second place with 15.8% of the global market.
These two leading powers have made the Art Market a true vector of soft power, and a strong comeback by China cannot be ruled out, as it has already demonstrated in the past by taking the first position as the world's heaviest marketplace (2005).
The
With the most comprehensive report on the art market, Artprice by
In its report, Artprice presents its famous rankings, including the Top 500 Artists by annual auction turnover (from sales of fine art, NFTs, & AI generated and/or assisted creations) in 2025, as well as the Top 100 art auction results in 2025. The report once again highlights the spectacular growth in the appreciation of female artists.
Dematerialization via the Internet is now a dominant feature of the art market across all five continents of the globe, relegating physical auction rooms to 20th century history.
Artprice by Artmarket is pleased to announce the publication of its 32nd Annual Report, "The
Français : https://fr.artprice.com/artprice-reports/le-marche-de-lart-en-2025
English: https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2025
Mandarin : https://zh.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-2025-zh
The 32nd Annual Art Market Report – available for free download – provides a detailed analysis of the trends shaping global auctions. It offers insights into the structure of the art market through the analysis of over 867,000 works sold in 2025, enriched with concrete examples and essential rankings, including the Top 500 Artists (by annual turnover) and the year's Top 100 Auction Results.
HEALTH OF THE GLOBAL ART AUCTION MARKET
1. HEALTH OF THE GLOBAL ART AUCTION MARKET
Global art auction turnover reached
In the West, Fine Art auction sales generated $9.4 billion, up 15.4% (
In China, Fine Art auction sales fell by 5.4% to
The record price for a work of art in 2025 was $236,360,000 (vs.
The Lauder Collection generated the three highest art auction results of the year, thanks to three paintings by
Top Ten Fine Art Auction Marketplaces in 2024
https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2026/03/img2-Artprice-World-planisphere.jpg
2. 2025 OVERVIEW: BOTTOM-UP GROWTH
The number of lots sold continued to rise (+6.5%) to 867,000, vs. 814,300 in 2024.
The unsold rate stabilized at 32% in 2025, vs. 33% in 2024.
The average price of an artwork rose risen slightly to
Half of the works sold for less than
Lots sold for less than
80% of artworks sold for less than
Artprice listed 1,347 Fine Art lots sold over a million in 2024, vs. 1,131 in 2024.
SOFT POWER: CHINA RETAINS SECOND PLACE
The
China (-5.4%) underwent a further contraction, partly due to unreported results. It posted a total of
The
(vs.
AUCTION HOUSES
Sotheby's has once again become the world's leading auction house for Fine Art with a total turnover of
Sotheby's (with 28% of global art sales turnover) and
Phillips remained the third biggest auction house in the world with
The
Artcurial, with a total of
RECORDS & COLLECTIONS
The three highest auction results of the year were hammered for the three Gustav Klimts paintings in the Lauder Collection.
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) was the top-selling Chinese artist with
Indian artists
Dematerialization via the Internet is now a dominant feature of the art market across all five continents of the globe, relegating physical auction rooms to 20th century history. During that century the art market was clearly dominated by the West; today the
Artprice's 32nd Annual Art Market Report is considered by art market players the most reliable and comprehensive reference in the world. Indeed, following the 36th
Spontaneous brand awareness measures the percentage of people who spontaneously mention a brand in relation to a particular service or product.
In addition to spontaneous brand awareness, Artprice also studied qualified brand awareness by requesting more information about the knowledge of the responding conference attendees regarding the brand. This allowed for an analysis of the respondents' sincerity and consistency.
This highly qualitative study benefited from two exceptional factors: firstly, by interviewing conference attendees from 70 countries in person, it avoided online or telephone questionnaires, which would have resulted in a lack of relevance and verification; and secondly, it allowed Artprice to communicate directly with these registered and certified attendees, who were identified by their profession, specialty, qualifications/title, degree, and institutions/universities.
The question asked was: "What databases on the Art Market are you familiar with?"
Of the 378 art historians interviewed at the conference, 325 cited Artprice as their first choice, i.e. 86%, placing it at the 'Top of mind' among art market databases.
Top-of-mind awareness is the percentage of people who identify a particular brand, product or service as their first response (this includes both a spontaneous response and their first response).
In addition to its "Top of Mind" enquiry, Artprice also requested more information about the respondent's knowledge of the brand, allowing analysis of consistency and regularity of conference attendees' responses.
In this context, conference attendees were asked to describe the reasons for their initial choice of the Artprice database. The summary, based on a scale of 100, shows that Artprice was chosen by 84% for its comprehensiveness, 73% for its reliability and 62% for its traceability.
After months of preparation, Artprice by Artmarket was thus able to be present throughout the congress via its conferences, a presence at the book fair and a special evening event held at its global headquarters located in the heart of the L'Organe, the
This official recognition on 20 March 2025 by
thierry Ehrmann, CEO d'Artprice by Artmarket:
"Artprice by Artmarket asked Google Gemini 3 Ultra Mode Deep Thing, currently considered the world's leading AI engine, to analyze its PhD-level reasoning (a PhD is equivalent to eight years of post-secondary education), multimodality, and contextual windows. With a capacity exceeding one million tokens, it can analyze entire libraries at once, whereas others struggle after just a few chapters.
Artprice's request was very simple and can be formulated as follows: audit our entire positioning on information about the Art Market as a proprietary vertical AI by reviewing all our parameters from 1987 to 2026 with our multiple acquisitions of legendary publishing companies in the art market, then produce an in-depth study for 2025/2030 in the light of current science, economic, financial and documented and serious projections on the evolution of the art market.
This audit/study, which reportedly would have required two months of full-time study by a specialized analysis firm to cover only a small portion of the AI aspects, is highly relevant. This comprehensive audit/study (completely unaltered by Artprice by Artmarket and free from any potential conflict of interest) is crucial to understanding the challenges facing Artprice by Artmarket, as it represents a paradigm shift that is fundamentally transforming its near future. This audit is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand our positioning and the likely evolutions that will affect the art market in the near future.
Verbatim :
A Visionary Architecture of the Art Market (2026-2030):
Visionary Origins: From 1987 Algorithms… to Global Transparency
The contemporary evolution of the global art market is inseparable from the intellectual and technological trajectory pursued by
During this pioneering period Artprice constructed what would become the world's largest database on the art market. Ehrmann foresaw that the value of information lay in its historical depth and verifiability. As of the early 1990s, Artprice methodically acquired and digitized colossal collections of manuscripts and auction catalogs, dating back to 1700. Today, this massive volume of information represents a veritable "
The structuring of the art market – i.e. the organization and publication of the market's key economic data – transformed a small market of 500,000 post-war art collectors into a global ecosystem that, according to Ehrmann's projections, will reach more than 270 million art buyers by 2030. This massification is the direct consequence of the value transparency initiated over three decades ago.
The Demographic Shift: towards 270 million buyers
Based on in-depth analysis of the massive volume of the market data accumulated by Artprice over the years,
Ehrmann's vision for 2026-2030 posits that the new 'digital native' generation no longer consumes art as a static object, but rather as a flow of information and social status, and he believes that Artprice has not only allowed the expansion of the base of the market, but is also perfectly positioned – via its strategic partnership with Artron in
Feminization and the Wealth Transfer
A key factor identified by Artprice reports and indeed confirmed by
Vertical AI and the
For
NVIDIA Blackwell Infrastructure and the
The technological leap planned for 2026 is supported by the
AI no longer just lists prices; it induces behavior. Artprice's Blind Spot AI® – for which
Immunity to 'Peak Data'
While the tech industry fears the 'Peak Data' phenomenon – the point where AI models will no longer have quality human data to ingest and will start feeding on their own production ('autophagy') – Artprice holds a major comparative advantage. Its collection of physical manuscripts and historical archives constitutes an inexhaustible and protected source of 'Ground Truth', ensuring the reliability of its AI training models in the face of AI 'slop' (low-quality content).
Contemporary Art: the Economic Locomotive of the 21st Century
In the early 2000s,
Contemporary Art acts as a 'locomotive' because it is the preferred entry point for new consumers. For the 2026-2030 period, Artprice predicts that the Ultra-Contemporary segment (artists under 40) will continue to structure the market, despite inherent volatility.
NFTs and Certification: The Cyber-Art Dimension
The visionary
In his vision for the 2026-2030 period, Ehrmann sees blockchain as the backbone of traceability. Artprice positions itself as the ultimate trusted third party, capable of certifying primary NFT issues and integrating them into a multi-currency environment. This integration secures the market against counterfeits while offering artists an automatic royalty mechanism on secondary sales.
The Abode of Chaos: Singular Architecture Manifesto
The global headquarters of
The Abode of Chaos is a living manifesto reflecting the state of the world. As the creator of this monumental work, Ehrmann installed the servers and algorithms that drive Artprice at the very core of this highly singular edifice, creating a symbiosis between artistic creation and data analysis. As a museum, the Abode of Chaos attracts over 12.1 million followers on social networks and thousands of visitors every year, proving that high-value artistic content is the primary driver of engagement for an information platform. It is the mirror of Contemporary Art: a zone of resistance, emancipation and constant innovation.
## Economic Outlook and Projections 2026-2030
After a natural contraction of the top end of the market in 2023-2024 due to geopolitical tensions, the global art market began a measured rebound in the second half of 2025 with a 12% increase in global art auction turnover.
Projections for 2026-2030 indicate a 'transvertical' market where opportunities are multiple for those who master information.
Convergence Between Art and Finance
One of the pillars of thierry Ehrmann's strategy has always been the transformation of Artprice's services into financial decision-making tools. The Artprice100© index regularly outperforms traditional stock market indices like the S&P 500, confirming art as a reliable safe haven in times of crisis. By 2030, Artprice expects to become the reference infrastructure for customs services, private banks and insurance companies, integrating its valuation algorithms into the heart of the global economy.
Summary: A 360-Degree Vision
For the 2026 - 2030 period, Artprice sees the art market heading towards a total integration between human and machine. thierry Ehrmann's vision is built on three fundamental axes:
1. Technological Sovereignty: this means absolute control of its AI infrastructure via the
2. Demographic Expansion: Artprice sees a potential client base of 270 million, mostly young and from new geographical zones (China,
3. Art as Resistance: maintaining the subversive and emotional dimension of art, embodied by the Abode of Chaos, while structuring its economic valuation through transparency.
The art market is no longer a bastion for a privileged few; it has become a global, fluid and technologically advanced marketplace where algorithms do not replace the artist but reveal their true place in human history.
Images:
[https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2026/03/img1-the-art-market-in-2025-by-artprice.jpg]
[https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2026/03/img2-Artprice-World-planisphere.jpg] Copyright 1987-2026 thierry Ehrmann www.artprice.com - www.artmarket.com
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Artmarket and its Artprice department were founded in 1997 by thierry Ehrmann, the company's CEO. They are controlled by
Artmarket is a global player in the Art Market with, among other structures, its Artprice department, world leader in the accumulation, management and exploitation of historical and current art market information (the original documentary archives, codex manuscripts, annotated books and auction catalogs acquired over the years) in databanks containing over 30 million indices and auction results, covering more than 901,000 artists.
Artprice Images® allows unlimited access to the largest art market image bank in the world with no less than 181 million digital images of photographs or engraved reproductions of artworks from 1700 to the present day, commented by our art historians.
Artmarket, with its Artprice department, constantly enriches its databases from 7,200 auction houses and continuously publishes art market trends for the main agencies and press titles in the world in 121 countries and 11 languages.
There is now a future for the Art Market with Artprice's Intuitive Artmarket® AI.
Artmarket, with its Artprice department, has twice been awarded the State label "
Artprice by Artmarket publishes its 2025 Global Art Market Annual Report, published in
https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2025
Artprice by Artmarket publishes its 2025 Contemporary Art Market Report:
https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-contemporary-art-market-report-2025
Summary of Artmarket press releases with its Artprice department: https://serveur.serveur.com/artmarket/press-release/en/
Follow all the Art Market news in real-time with Artmarket and its Artprice department on Facebook and Twitter:
www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom/ (more than 6.4 million subscribers)
Discover the alchemy and the universe of Artmarket and its Artprice department: https://www.artprice.com/video
whose head office is the famous
https://issuu.com/demeureduchaos/docs/demeureduchaos-abodeofchaos-opus-ix-1999-2013
Madame
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La Demeure du Chaos/Abode of Chaos – Total Work of Art and Singular Architecture.
Confidential bilingual work, now made public: https://ftp1.serveur.com/abodeofchaos_singular_architecture.pdf
• L'Obs -
• https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999 (more than 4.1 million subscribers)
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