Artnet analysts compare auction art sales across countries for the first half of 2025
Against a backdrop of a 16.5% decline in global sales, the smallest fall was recorded in the United States, where sales totalled 2.2 billion dollars, only 1% lower than in the same period of 2024.
China comes second after the United States, where sales fell by 26% compared with the first half of 2024 and amounted to 666.1 million dollars. This is the country's second-lowest result in the past decade, pandemic-stricken 2020 included.
Great Britain took third place with total sales of 630.4 million dollars, 24.5% less than a year earlier.
In France, by contrast, total sales grew by 4.7% and reached around 363.9 million dollars. The growth is attributed to the new Sotheby's saleroom, which opened in Paris last autumn.