The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2026 provides a detailed breakdown of how auction sales divided across art-historical categories in 2025. The data reveals significant shifts in where collector capital is flowing.
Post-war art: 31% of auction sales ($3.1 billion) — Down 3% from 2024. This category, spanning roughly 1945-1970, includes artists like Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud. It remains the largest single category by value.
Modern art: 24% ($2.4 billion) — Bolstered by the $236 million Klimt sale at Sotheby's, this category saw its strongest year since 2015.
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist: 19% — The year's biggest surprise: a 47% increase in sales value. Collectors appear to be rotating back toward blue-chip historical categories after the ultra-contemporary boom of 2021-2023.
Contemporary art (post-1970): 14% ($1.4 billion) — Continuing a correction from the pandemic-era highs. This includes living artists and those who emerged from the 1970s onward.
Old Masters: 11% ($1.2 billion) — A 30% increase, marking a significant revival for works created before 1800. Scarcity of high-quality works reaching the market has intensified competition.
The rotation toward Impressionist, Modern, and Old Masters suggests a market seeking stability. After the speculative excesses of the ultra-contemporary boom — when some young artists saw prices double or triple within months — collectors are prioritising established art-historical value.
For collectors focused on contemporary and emerging art, this is not necessarily bad news. Price corrections create buying opportunities. The 14% share for contemporary art still represents $1.4 billion in annual auction sales — a substantial market that continues to function, albeit at more sustainable price levels.
Source: Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2026, based on public auction data from major international auction houses.
