All posts tagged: Art Basel UBS Report

Sotheby’s Reports M Gain as Art Market Recovers

Sotheby’s Reports $53M Gain as Art Market Recovers

Published by José Betancourt

Sotheby’s has returned to profit after several loss-making years, though the underlying financial picture remains complicated. The auction house posted a $53 million pre-tax profit in 2025, according to financial documents reviewed by the Financial Times, a turnaround from a $190 million loss the year prior. Sales rose nearly 20 percent to $7.1 billion, with revenue from its core auction business climbing 26 percent to about $1 billion.  The rebound reflects a modest recovery in the broader art market, which grew 4 percent last year after two years of contraction. Auction sales led the gains, rising 9 percent, with demand concentrated at the top end of the market, according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. Related Articles Even so, Sotheby’s has taken steps that point to continued pressure on cash. As previously reported, the company has been offering sellers interest of around 7 percent to delay payouts—what it describes as “extended settlement terms,” allowing it to hold onto cash for longer.  That pressure is also visible in a new lawsuit filed by Cushman & Wakefield, …

Contemporary Art Market Cools as Old Masters and Impressionists Rebound

Contemporary Art Market Cools as Old Masters and Impressionists Rebound

Published by José Betancourt

For much of the past decade, the art market behaved as though history had stopped. Collectors and speculators chased the wet paint with missionary zeal, convinced that the next studio visit might yield a future masterpiece (or a tidy return when flipped onto the secondary market). Auction houses obliged, turning evening sales into pageants for artists who barely had time to form a reputation. That fever appears to have broken, according to the latest Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report, written by economist Clare McAndrew of Arts Economics. While the global art market returned to modest growth last year, reaching an estimated $59.6 billion in sales—a 4 percent increase after two years of decline—auction sales of postwar and contemporary art have continued to fall. Those categories generated $4.5 billion last year, compared with $8.5 billion in 2021. Related Articles Despite four consecutive years of decline, postwar and contemporary art remains the largest segment of the auction market, underscoring how central it has become to the trade over the past two decades. For a decade, …