The 23rd edition of Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB), America’s most prestigious contemporary art fair and the world’s third most important, opening from Friday to Sunday, opens at a time of maximum uncertainty. While last week’s auctions in New York injected a dose of activity into the market, generating $2.2 billion in sales, this year has been very difficult for galleries.
Throughout the months leading up to ABMB’s opening, the art market was characterized by worrying uncertainty that caused several elite art galleries to withdraw from the fair in October (including Miguel Abreu Gallery, Chantal Crousel Gallery, Alison Jacques Gallery, Peter Kelchman Gallery, Edward Tyler Nahm Gallery, Luisa Strena Galeria, and Lea Roma Gallery). The report, which serves as a benchmark for the sector, Art Basel and UBS 2025 Global Art Market Reportevidence of the crisis: global sales fell by 12% compared to 2024. The collapse was most noticeable in the upper segment, where sales of works worth more than $10 million fell by 39%, with inflation and market fluctuations directly affecting the investments of American collectors.
So, ABMB started from a weak position, because if there’s one thing that defines this show it’s speculation and risk (this was where the controversial banana sold in 2019 for $120,000). Comedianwritten by Maurizio Cattelan). It’s a risk that collectors don’t seem willing to take year-round. On Wednesday, the exhibition’s VIP opening day, the gallery owners were cautiously optimistic; There weren’t as many pre-sales, as there had been in previous years, but there was a lot of interest from collectors.
Previous New York, where Photo by Elizabeth Lederer By Gustav Klimt It raised $236.36 million at Sotheby’s and set a record for being the second-highest price ever paid at auction for a work, seeming to signal a positive turnaround. And so it was: on the first day of sales, the David Zwirner Gallery collected more than 18.5 million euros, selling the most expensive work of the day, Abstract drawing By Gerhard Richter for $5.5 million; Hauser & Wirth, one of the most influential galleries, claimed to have sold 40% of its works. “The pace feels relaxed, but the work is steady and dynamic,” company president Mark Piot commented via email at the end of the day.
The White Cube exhibition was also a huge success. She sold the centerpiece for €1.2 million: a four-metre-long painting by Andreas Gursky entitled Harry Styles (2025), but also de Kooning (for €2.85m), Damien Hirst (€2.5m), Tracey Emin (£1.2m; €1.4m) and Richard Hunt (€1m). The sales indicate a dual interest: for important historical works (Richter, Bourgeois, Alice Neel, Picasso), but also for contemporary works that receive more media coverage, such as the work of Gursky, which, according to his exhibition, envisions the “common essence” of the present.
There is also a new ambition in the digital sphere. After the uncertainty of the NFT bubble, and despite leading the most disruptive trend in the market, digital art was the big surprise star of the day, generating huge interest and significant sales. He highlighted Beeple’s return through robotics Ordinary animalsShe sold the ten pieces she brought to the exhibition.
One of Warhol’s star paintings, painting Muhammad AliThe work, which is priced at $18 million, is one of the most expensive works in the exhibition. But if we compare the current edition of the exhibition with last year’s edition, we can say that 2025 surpasses 2024 not only in the price of the most expensive work sold, but also in the million-dollar sales volume. In addition, representatives from ICA Miami, MoMA, LACMA, El Museo del Barrio and the Toledo Museum of Art were in attendance, bringing legitimacy and confidence back to the market, not just liquidity.
Restart the year
Bridget Finn, director of Art Basel Miami Beach, to counter the weak market was to modernize the fair by incorporating new features. If 32 galleries debut in 2024, there will be 48 galleries to debut in 2025, representing a significant replenishment in exhibitors, which total to 283 galleries from 43 countries.
It is expected that with this change it will bring new energy to the arena and bet on discoveries. Among the new additions stands out El Apartamento, the first Cuban gallery to be shown at Art Basel, which represents a geopolitical landmark, breaking the blockade imposed by Miami on the island. This edition also features six local galleries, a historic record, including Nina Johnson, who has participated for many years in NADA Miami, one of the most prominent space galleries.
On the other hand, Art Basel opened Zero 10, a platform dedicated to digital art, curated by Eli Scheinman, creative director of Proof (a company dedicated to NFT collections) and Yoga Labs (the one behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, BAYC). The platform takes its name from the gallery 0.10written by Kazimir Malevich in 1915, with which Suprematism began, because it shared the same subversive desire and desire to make room for something new starting from scratch.
One of the other big incentives in this call is the emergence of the Art Basel Awards on the scene. According to Art Basel, the future of contemporary art depends not only on the artists, but on the ecosystem that supports them, which is why in May this year 36 medal winners were announced in nine categories: three reserved for artists (icons, established, emerging) and six for professionals and other collaborators (interdisciplinary creators, patrons, institutions, curators, allies, media, storytellers). At a ceremony held last night, the winners of the 12 gold medals, worth $50,000, were announced.
Buyers
“There is a generational change in those who buy art,” explains Noah Horowitz, executive director of Art Basel. “They are younger, they come from other sectors, and there are more women. In many cases, they are people who have raised their own money.” To welcome this new influx of buyers with the Premium Card, this year Art Basel Miami Beach opened a new center Lounge VIP Al Sharq Salon, which offers them a somewhat special program Masterclass From the collection.
Everything is changing at an incredible pace, and Art Basel has decided not to get caught up, but to rebuild its own ecosystem (awards, digital platforms, new exclusive areas) instead of drifting. In February 2026, it will also open its fifth exhibition, Art Basel Qatar.
