Art market's slowdown hits female artists the hardest

The majority of art dealers were cautiously optimistic about sales holding up this year, after a fall in 2024, but that was before President Trump unleashed economic turmoil.

Overall art sales declined by 12% to an estimated $57.5 billion in 2023-24, a fall for the second consecutive year, with the contraction greatest at the high end of the market.

Auction houses saw their sales drop in 2024 by 20% to $23.4 billion, their lowest level since the market’s post-Covid bounceback.

“It might be easy to despair,” said the economist Clare McAndrew, who was speaking at the launch of the 2025 Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report today, April 8. McAndrew, the founder of Arts Economics and author of the report, pointed to bright spots, such as increasing business at the lower end of the market, particularly by smaller galleries.

Dealers reported the cost of participating in art fairs, where many make the bulk of their sales, had risen by 10%, on top of a 15% increase in shipping costs, squeezing already tight margins.

McAndrew found that dealers are increasingly reliant on a handful of mainly male artists as collectors become more risk averse. The report found that once again works by male artists account for the majority of larger galleries’ sales, a trend that looks set to continue.

In 2024, only 33% of sales in galleries with a turnover of more than $10m were for work by female artists, a year-on-year decline of 2%. Among smaller dealers turning over less than $250,000 a year, works by female artists formed 38% of sales.

Art Basel's director Noah Horowitz emphasized the positives: “When we look at downward market cycles, historically it is when some of the most important artists come to the fore.” He thought they would include more female artists, who he hoped will be better supported by collectors and institutions than in the past.

Meanwhile, at the auctions in 2024, Yayoi Kusama (6th) and Joan Mitchell (10th) were the only female artists to feature in the top 12, in a list led by Picasso, Magritte, Monet and Basquiat, based on data compiled by HENI News.