Notes related to Subasta

By Maria Sancho-Arroyo, Art Market Specialist

As 2025 draws to a close, the long-anticipated recovery of the global art market has not yet truly taken shape. The cautious optimism that marked the end of 2024 quickly gave way to a more sobering reality.

With seven sessions and an extraordinary lot, the auction emphasizes this year three-dimensional and sculptural works.

This spring, New York’s art fairs drew large crowds and vibrant energy—from the blue-chip Frieze and TEFAF to more experimental events like Independent and NADA. A total of twelve fairs took place, reinforcing the sense of an especially intense week for the market. The aisles were filled with collectors, curators, and celebrities, yet sales reflected a more measured pace than in previous years. The market is active, but increasingly thoughtful.

Interview with Edouard Gouin, Co-founder of Convelio.

The Lima Art Museum (MALI) has announced the return of its emblematic event, thanks to the sponsorship of BBVA Global Wealth and RIMAC. The showcase will take place on February 21 at Playa del Golf, in the Asia beach resort.

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to assess the state-of-the-art market over the past year. After the post-pandemic boom of 2021 and 2022, the art market suffered a marked slowdown in 2023, which has continued through 2024. According to auction data, the market has accumulated a total decline of 51% since 2022.

The November auctions of Modern and Contemporary Art in New York, long considered barometers of the art market’s health, showcased striking contrasts last week, revealing both the enduring power of exceptional art and the market’s appetite for spectacle.

The Lima Museum of Art (MALI) announced the thirty-second edition of its annual auction, dedicated in this occasion to textile art, a heritage that played a fundamental role in Peru's cultural history. The event will take place on October 19 at the museum and will feature a selection of more than 70 pieces of art, from historic textiles to contemporary works.

The art market stands out as a unique and enigmatic sector, notoriously difficult to measure and largely unregulated. Yet, it never fails to captivate the media, drawing attention with its dazzling multimillion-dollar sales and the alluring glamour of art collecting.

Last week's New York auctions, dubbed "Giga Week," saw art sales soar to an impressive $1.4 billion. This significant figure follows numerous sales at bustling art fairs over the past two weeks. While this amount represents a 22% decrease from the same week in 2023, and 55% less from 2022, auction houses performed admirably given the current challenging economic and political climate.

The NY spring season has concluded with the major auctions of Contemporary and Modern art. While the sales have not been a disaster, most lots have sold either below or close to the low estimate, with some last-minute withdrawals. One year ago, the May sales already marked a clear recalibration of prices. Over the past 12 months, the market has continued its slowdown, and this week's sales have confirmed the trend. It is not a brusque fall or a crash, but a slow-motion downward spiral in prices, with very few but exciting surprises.

Leonora Carrington’s painting "Les Distractions de Dagobert" (1945), valued between $12 to $18 million, is generating considerable excitement as it heads to auction at Sotheby's this May. Having been in an American collection since 1995, its upcoming sale not only reflects the escalating market demand for Carrington's pieces but also underscores the rising interest in female Surrealist artists.

On April 6, the emblematic auction of the Museo de Arte de Lima - MALI returns in its XXXI edition at Casa Prado. The event will feature more than 60 pieces of art divided into micro sessions that mark a journey from historical to contemporary.

On November 18, the iconic auction of the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) celebrates its 30th edition. This year, the auction will be held at Hotel B. with more than 60 pieces of art by some of the most outstanding artists in the history of Peruvian art.

The Museo de Arte de Lima presents this May 31 the 29th edition of its traditional Art Auction.

La Fundación Ruth para las Artes (Ruth Arts) se complace en marcar su debut en el panorama de la filantropía artística con el anuncio de su ciclo inaugural de concesión de subvenciones. La nueva fundación cuenta con el respaldo de un legado de $440 millones de la difunta Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, y espera otorgar subvenciones por un total de más de $17 millones anuales.

The Hilario Auction House has its twentieth online auction active with a surprising set that was part of the collection of Alfredo González Garaño (1886 – 1969), Argentine painter, disciple of the Catalan H. Anglada Camarasa, member of the "Parera group", active in the first decades of the 20th century; AGG was a cultural manager and great benefactor of public collections: he donated hundreds of works to the National Museums of Fine Arts and Decorative Arts, and to the Ethnographic and Hispano-American Art Museums I. Fernández Blanco, in addition to giving his Legacy to the Academy National Fine Arts, today in study.

At a Sotheby’s auction, the Argentine businessman and collector acquired Diego y yo (1949) for $ 34.8 million. Thus, the oil painting became the most expensive work in the history of Frida Kahlo, in the history of Latin American art, Mexican art and by a woman artist from the region.

The gallery Hilario. Artes Letras Oficios, from Buenos Aires, presents a new online auction, this time with seventy-eight lots, always with its boutique auction house style with highly selected and studied works.