At the end of last month, Artsy launched its trends in the 2025 artistic market, a report that analyzes the art market that offers another business vision together with the Art Basel report, still widely considered as the authority. Since then, Artsy’s majority shareholder has acquired the rival artnet art data signing in an agreement that “indicates a decisive change in strategy and priorities, as the art market, and the distribution of its data, information and products, continues to evolve.” It may not be such a special exciting moment to sell art, but it is certainly good to produce data on the sale. We meet the chief curator of Artsy, Casey Leser, to unpack his findings.
What are some of the key conclusions of the latest report of art market trends?
The report paints a nuanced image of how the art market is evolving in 2025, partly in the relationship between galleries and collectors. Some key issues highlighted.
Online sales are becoming more and more central: 43 percent of galleries said they plan to focus more on online sales, and approximately half are investing in digital content and social media strategies. This change is partly driven by economic pressures: 75 percent or galleries cited economic uncertainty as an important challenge, but it is also a reflection or where the collectors are. Among collectors under 37, online platforms are already a key space for discovery and purchases: 71 percent of them bought online art in 2024.
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Transparency remains an important point of conflict: 69 percent of collectors said they have doubted to buy art due to lack of transparency, especially around prices and origin. Most galleries recognize this: 62 percent said transparency is very important for their collectors. Despite this, less than half show prices in all Avia works, and most did not take measures to improve transparency in the last year. From Artsy’s data, we know that listings with visible prices are approximately six times more likely to sell.
Emerging artists are a shared priority: 72 percent of collectors said they are attracted to emerging artists, or indicate accessible prices and the emotion of discovering new talents. That also aligns with gallery priorities: 51 percent said that emerging artists are more important for their businesses, not only for sales but also to build long -term relationships with collectors.
The authorized model for this type of report is that produced by Dr. Clare Mcandrew for Art Basel and UBS. What did artistic because to create your own?
Artsy has published data and reports promoted by surveys focused on the art market for more than five years. In previous years, we publish separate reports that look at the behavior and trends of galleries and collectors. But over time, it was clear that the most significant opportunity was to gather those perspectives, placing the issue in direct dialogue, as we have done in this new tendencies report.
Given Artsy at the intersection of galleries sales and online collection, we are uniquely positioned for superficial of what is shaping the art market: what is promoting purchases, where are the friction points and how both parties are changing and adapting. This year’s report highlighted the key issues that affect both galleries and collectors and, more importantly, he sacrificed an opinion on how the market is now operating.
There is an emphasis on collectors here instead of galleries or auction houses. How did you find your collectors?
We conduct an artistic user survey and recover the response of more than 1,200 collectors in more than 60 countries.
Could you tell me a little about your methodology? How did you get to this data?
The report is informed by two competitors surveys that we carry out between February and March 2025: one for galleries and one for collectors. We received responses from 384 galleries and 1,236 collectors, with participants from more than 60 countries in each group. The collectors came from the Artsy user base, and the gallery group included both partners and non -support.
The surveys were structured around the same central themes, such as prices, sales performance and categories of artists, adapted to each audience. From there, we collect the data and compare the answers in the two groups with the surface points of alignment and voltage.
The term “transparency” is key in its report. How is transparency defined in a context of the art world?
We define transparency as access to clear and consistent information and context around works of art, including prices, tests, availability and details about the artist and his online or person work. In practice, that means showing or sharing prices in advance, offering bios of artists, descriptions of works of art and exhibition history, and giving collectors the tools they need to make safe and informed decisions. It is also about demystifying the art purchase process and creating a more cozy environment.
Obviously, the art market is in depression at this time. How was that reflected in your findings?
It was obvious in the answer to several questions we asked. For example, 75 percent of galleries identified economic uncertainty as one of their main challenges. On the collector’s side, 30 percent said they were buying more selectively, and only 7 percent reported having bought more art in 2024 than the previous year.
There is broad recognition that the collector’s behavior is changing the most aware public prices prosecution, and many are premium in transparency and confidence on speculation or exaggeration. In response, the galleries are being recalibrated: putting more emphasis on digital scope, creating attractive content and focusing on emerging artists as a way to connect with today’s collectors.
How should galleries be oriented depending on their findings? Do you need to make ferwer fairs? More fairs, if that is possible?
The data suggests that the fairs are no longer a unique solution for everyone. While they are still valuable, particularly for the construction of relationships and visibility, only 39 percent of collectors said the fairs were “somewhat important” for their purchase trip, and 29 percent said “they are not very important.”
What galleries need is a strategy that balances events in person with a strong digital scope and commitment. That could mean investing in content, social networks and markets online to expand its scope, especially international.
Instead of focusing on making more or less fairs, the question is how to address them more strategically. What fairs are connected to your target audience? Can experience extend in person through digital campaigns or monitoring content? The goal is to meet the collectors where they are, and more and more, that is online.
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