New York art sales generate nearly €2 billion in a week

Connoisseurs drove the recovery of the market in the last quarter, writes Des O'Sullivan

Gustav Klimt's 'Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer' sold for $236.4m (€203m); 'Liaisons', by Marlene Dumas, at the Louvre, Frida Kahlo's 'The Dream (The Bed)' set a new world record for a female artist, and Mark Rothko's 'No. 31 (Yellow Stripe)' made $62.1m (€53.34m).

The recovery in the international art market, which became apparent in the last quarter of 2025, is driven by real art lovers, not speculators or peddlers of bitcoin looking to make a quick buck. The big November art sales in New York generated $2.2 billion (€1.89 billion) in just one week.

At Sotheby's first auction at its new HQ at the Breuer Building, previously the Whitney Museum, Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer made $236.4 million (€203 million), the second-highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction, as well as the most expensive painting sold this year. The first auction at their new home in New York brought in €706 million (€606,450), the highest total ever achieved by Sotheby's for a one-night auction.