Art Basel Miami Beach is currently hosting its 23rd edition, with 283 galleries filling the Miami Beach Convention Center. Early reports from the VIP preview suggest a strong market, particularly for high-value artworks. This follows a robust auction season in New York, where sales reached a total of $2.2 billion just two weeks ago.
Organizers and dealers are expressing cautious optimism that collectors are regaining confidence, especially for blue-chip pieces that showed slower movement over the past three years. The initial sales indicate a growing momentum in the art market.
Key Takeaways
- Art Basel Miami Beach features 283 galleries.
- Early VIP preview sales show strong market confidence.
- Major galleries like David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth reported significant sales.
- Blue-chip artworks are seeing renewed interest.
- Overall art market appears more buoyant after a challenging year.
Leading Galleries Report Million-Dollar Sales
David Zwirner gallery reported one of the most valuable sales early in the fair. A significant abstract painting by Gerhard Richter sold for $5.5 million. Another notable sale was Alice Neel's Pregnant Nude (1967), which fetched $3.3 million.
The gallery also saw strong interest in works by Josef Albers. Two Homage to the Square paintings from 1955 and 1964 sold for $2.5 million and $2.2 million, respectively. A new painting by Dana Schultz went to an American museum for $1.2 million, and a 1969 wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa also sold for $1.2 million.
Top Sale
Gerhard Richter's abstract painting sold for $5.5 million at David Zwirner, marking one of the highest reported sales during the initial preview.
Hauser & Wirth Exceeds Previous Year's Sales
Hauser & Wirth reported an impressive start, with sales during the first three hours 40% higher than their total from last year's fair. Marc Payot, president of Hauser & Wirth, expressed enthusiasm, stating,
"Christmas came early for our team this morning. The pace seems almost leisurely on the surface, but business is consistently brisk. We’re already fielding inquiries about the works that will be newly installed tomorrow when we switch things up for the second day."
The gallery announced a total of 27 sales. Leading these were George Condo’s Untitled (Taxi Painting) (2011) at nearly $4 million and Louise Bourgeois’s Persistent Antagonism (1946-48) for $3.2 million. These two works were pre-sold before the fair opened, after clients received a preview.
Other seven-figure sales from Hauser & Wirth included Bourgeois’s Mr. Follett: Nursery-Man (1944) for $2.5 million, a work from Ed Clark’s Paris Series (1990) for $1.2 million, and Henry Taylor’s monumental painting Every Brotha Has a Record (2020) also for $1.2 million. Rashid Johnson’s towering planter Standing Broken Soul “Nowhere Man” (2025) sold for $1 million.
Diverse Artworks Attract Strong Bidding
Thaddaeus Ropac’s stand saw Alex Katz’s Orange Hat 2 (1973) lead sales at $2.5 million, followed by his later canvas Wildflowers 1 (2010) for $1.5 million. Georg Baselitz’s Selbstportrait 1953, 18.V.97 (1997) sold for €1 million, and Robert Longo’s Untitled (Formula One Car Crash) (2025) found a buyer for $750,000.
Pace gallery sold Heroines, Beyoncé, Serena and Althea (2020) by Sam Gilliam for $1.1 million. Lynda Benglis’s Fanfaronade (1979) also sold for $400,000. Almine Rech reported selling a painting by Pablo Picasso for a price between $2.8 million and $3 million, and a James Turrell piece for between $900,000 and $1 million.
Market Confidence
The art market experienced a challenging year in 2025, but the second half, particularly September, October, and November, showed significant improvement. This positive trend is now evident at Art Basel Miami Beach.
Optimism for the Art Market's Future
Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s chief artistic officer and global director of fairs, noted the market's recovery.
"2025 has been a rough year," he stated. "But the second part of the year, it was picking up in Basel already. Then, especially September, October, November—reporting what galleries have shared with me—were significantly better than 2024."This sentiment is echoed by many dealers at the fair.
Gladstone Gallery successfully sold Robert Rauschenberg’s Tarnished Honor (Copperhead) (1989) for $1.5 million. Olney Gleason sold Robert Indiana’s Eat (1962) for $135,000, along with two wall panels by Diana Al-Hadid for $110,000 each, and a Robert Motherwell painting for $100,000.
Sprüth Magers reported selling Anne Imhof’s Pink Cloud (2025) and Rosemarie Trockel’s Gogol (2011) for €250,000 each. Perrotin sold four works by Lee Bae, with prices ranging from $60,000 to $200,000, and a painting by Daniel Arsham for around $95,000. Kó gallery sold The lost cat (1973) by Nike Davies-Okundaye for $100,000 to the Toledo Museum of Art.
Emerging Artists and Overlooked Masters Gain Traction
New York-based Berry Campbell gallery reported several significant sales, including Yvonne Thomas’s Caribbean Shore (1959) for $375,000, and Mary Abbott’s Hill Dancers (1948) for $275,000. Elaine de Kooning’s Catskill Series (1965) and Shuyangh Cave (Cave No. 144) (1988) each sold for $75,000, while an untitled circa 1971 work by Betty Parsons went for $65,000.
The strong performance of Lynne Drexler’s Keller Fair II (1960), which sold for over $2 million at a Christie’s auction last month, bodes well for Berry Campbell. The gallery is currently offering Drexler’s Blue Bay (1968), priced at $950,000. Christine Berry, co-owner of the gallery, noted,
"This is also a really good example from the 1960s, so we definitely are using that reference. People are coming in here and saying, ‘Oh, that was a good price, right? Since this price is less than that price, even better.’"
Berry Campbell specializes in works by overlooked Abstract Expressionist women artists, a niche that seems to be performing well. Berry added,
"I don’t know if it’s our niche market or our price points, which seem to be in the middle of a lot of [Art Basel exhibitors], but things are going well."
Local Success
Miami-based dealer David Castillo sold a large-scale painting by Studio Lenka for $50,000 within the fair’s first 45 minutes, after selling out the artist's solo show the night before.
Strong Demand for Bold and Passionate Art
Matthew Brown’s stand sold Carroll Dunham’s Box Creatures (1995) for $350,000, ahead of the artist’s upcoming drawing retrospective. Lisson Gallery sold an untitled 2015 work by Anish Kapoor for £500,000, alongside two textile works by Olga de Amaral, a tapestry by Otobong Nkanga, and two wall-based word pieces by Jack Pierson.
David Castillo, a Miami-based dealer and long-time fair participant, saw immediate success. He sold a large-scale painting by Studio Lenka for $50,000 within the first 45 minutes. The night before, all 20 paintings in the artist’s solo show at Castillo’s brick-and-mortar space had completely sold out.
Castillo observed a clear shift in the market.
"I think there’s definitely been a shift over the last few months in the art market, where things are more buoyant again than they were the last couple of years. People are definitely expecting sales," he stated.This buoyancy is reflected in the artworks dealers are presenting and the choices collectors are making.
"The people coming here want the big and the bold," Castillo concluded. "People are passionate. They’re not just buying it to put it in storage."