Christie's Leads 2025 Auction Market with $3.5 Billion in Fine-Art Sales
In 2025, Christie's confirmed its position as the leading auction house with $3.5 billion in fine-art sales, marking a 10.1 percent growth from 2024. A standout piece was Mark Rothko's No. 31 (Yellow Stripe), 1958, which fetched $62.1 million in November, coming from the Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis collection. Sotheby’s followed closely behind with $3.3 billion, up 31 percent from the previous year, featuring significant collections like those of Lauder and Karpidas. Notably, Frida Kahlo's 1940 work, El sueño (La cama), sold for $54.7 million, setting a record for female artists at auction. Meanwhile, Phillips saw a drop to $390.9 million, a 14.2 percent decrease, while also making leadership changes, appointing Martin Wilson as CEO in January 2025.
Key facts
- Christie's generated $3.5 billion in fine-art auction sales in 2025, a 10.1% increase from 2024.
- Mark Rothko's No. 31 (Yellow Stripe), 1958 sold for $62.1 million at Christie's in November 2025.
- Sotheby's sales reached $3.3 billion in 2025, a 31% increase from 2024.
- Frida Kahlo's El sueño (La cama) sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby's in November 2025, setting a record for a woman artist.
- Phillips sales were $390.9 million in 2025, a 14.2% decline from 2024 and its lowest since 2016.
- Phillips introduced a new "priority" fee structure in fall 2025 and Martin Wilson became CEO in January 2025.
- Christie's second-half 2025 sales jumped 26% compared to the same period in 2024.
- These figures do not include private sales and indicate total revenue rather than profit.
Entities
Artists
- Mark Rothko
- Frida Kahlo
Institutions
- Christie's
- Sotheby's
- Phillips
- Artnet News
- Artnet Analytics