At the end of last month, Artsy released his art market trends 2025, a report that the art market analyzed that a different picture of the company offers in addition to the UBS/Art Basel report, still generally considered the authority. Since then, the majority shareholder of Artsy rival art data firm Artnet has taken over in a deal that “indicates a decisive shift in strategy and priorities, because the art market – and the distribution of its data, information and products – is engaged in evolving.” It may not be a particularly exciting time to sell art, but it is certainly a good thing to produce data about their sale. We caught up with the main curator of Artsy, Casey Lesser, to unpack her findings.
What are some of the most important collection restaurants of the latest report of the art market trends?
The report paints a nuanced picture of how the art market is developing in 2025, in particular in the relationship between galleries and collectors. A few important themes noticed.
Online sales are becoming increasingly central: 43 percent of the galleries said they are planning to concentrate more on online sales, and invests more than half in digital content and strategies for social media. That shift is partly driven by economic pressure – 75 percent of the galleries mentioned economic uncertainty as a major challenge – but it is also a reflection of where collectors are. Among collectors younger than 37, online platforms are already an important space for discovery and purchases: 71 percent of them bought art online in 2024.
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Transparency is still an important bottleneck: 69 percent of the collectors said they hesitated to buy art due to a lack of transparency, especially around prices and origin. Most galleries acknowledge this: 62 percent said transparency is very important for their collectors. Nevertheless, less than half of the prices for all available works, and a majority has not taken any steps in the past year to improve transparency. We know from Artsy’s own details that offers with visible prices have about six times more chance of selling.
Emerging artists are a shared priority: 72 percent of the collectors said they are attracted to emerging artists, who often point to accessible prizes and the excitement of discovering new talent. This also fits in with gallery priorities: 51 percent said that emerging artists are the most important for their company, not only for sale, but also for building long -term relationships with collectors.
The authoritative model for this type of report is the model produced by Dr. Clare Mcandrew for Art Basel and UBS. What made Artsy who wanted to create himself?
Artsy has been publishing data and survey-driven reports aimed at the art market for more than five years. In previous years we have issued separate reports that looked at galleries and collectors’ behavior and trends. But over time it became clear that the more meaningful chance was to bring those perspectives together, to place them in direct dialogue, as we have in this new report from the art market trends.
Given the position of Artsy at the intersection of gallery sales and online collecting, we are uniquely positioned to give the parent what the art market is – what is driving, where the friction points are and how both parties change and adjust. This year’s report emphasized the most important topics that influence both galleries and collectors and, more importantly, an image of how the market is active.
There is an emphasis on collectors here instead of galleries or auction houses. How did you find your collectors?
We have conducted a study among artistic users and received answers from more than 1,200 collectors in more than 60 countries.
Can you tell me a bit about your methodology? How did you get this information?
The report is informed by two simultaneous surveys that we walked between February and March 2025: one for galleries and one for collectors. We received answers from 384 galleries and 1,236 collectors, with participants from more than 60 countries in each group. The collectors came from the user base of Artsy and the gallery group included both artistic partners and non-partners.
The surveys were structured around the same core themes – things such as prices, sales performance and categories for artist – are sent to every audience. From there we collected the data and compared answers about the two groups with surface points of alignment and tension.
The term “transparency” is a key in your report. How do you define transparency in an art world context?
We define transparency as access to clear, consistent information and context about artworks – including prices, origin, availability and details about the artist and their work – that that is online or personal. In practice, this means that it is displayed or shares of prices in advance, offering artists BIOS, artworking descriptions and exhibition histories and giving collectors the tools they need to make self -assured, informed decisions. It is also about demystifying the process of buying art and creating a more hospitable environment.
It is clear that the art market is currently in a malaise. How was that reflected in your findings?
It was clear in the answers to different questions we asked. 75 percent of the galleries, for example, identified economic uncertainty as one of their most important challenges. On the collector’s side, 30 percent said they bought more selectively, and only 7 percent reported to buy more art in 2024 than the previous year.
There is broad recognition that the behavior of collector is shifting people are more price-conscious and many set a premium on transparency and rely on speculation or hype. In response to this, galleries: put more emphasis on digital outreach, creating fascinating content and focusing on emerging artists as a way to make contact with today’s collectors.
How should galleries orient themselves based on your findings? Do they have to do fewer stock markets? More fairs, if that is possible?
The data suggests that stock markets are no longer a one-size-fits-all solution. Although they remain valuable-especially for building relationships and visibility soi, only 39 percent of the collectors were “somewhat important” for their sale trip, and 29 percent said they are “not very important”.
What galleries need is a strategy that balances personal events with a strong digital outreach and involvement. This can mean that investing in content, social media and online market places to expand their reach, especially internationally.
Instead of concentrating on doing more or fewer stock markets, the question is how to approach them more strategically. Which scholarships commit themselves to their target group? Can the personal experience be expanded through digital campaigns or follow -up content? The goal is to meet collectors where they are – and that is increasingly online.
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