Kobel's
Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 2 2026

As expected by some and hoped for by many, the auction market picked up noticeably in the second half of the year, both internationally and in German-speaking countries. The major auction houses are trying to save themselves from the slump in the art market with handbags, trainers and jewellery, according to an analysis by George Nelson in mid-August for Artnews: "But, as high-end art sales continue to stagnate, auction houses are increasingly leaning on luxury categories. According to market research firm ArtTactic, fine art sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, and Phillips fell 44 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2022. That's a roughly £3 billion hole that needs plugging, which auction houses appear to be doing with proceeds from high-end handbags, jewellery, wine, whisky, and collectible cars. According to another ArtTactic report, luxury goods sales reached a decade-high market share of 18.8 per cent by value for auction houses in the first half of 2024—and climbed to 20.2 per cent so far in 2025. I come to similar conclusions at Monopol (paywall).

Christie's is closing its digital art department, Matt Medved reports in early September first in the digital culture magazine Now Media: ’Christie's is closing its digital art department, according to sources familiar with the situation. ‘Christie's has made a strategic decision to reformat the sale of digital art. The company will continue to sell digital art within the larger category of “20th and 21st century art,”’ said a spokesperson for Christie's. Britta Bürger from Deutschlandfunk Kultur spoke with me about Christie's move and the future of NFTs (audio).

Sotheby's is consistently focusing on luxury goods, writes George Nelson in Artnews: "Billionaire Patrick Drahi's master plan to transform Sotheby's into a luxury retail monster will get a steroid boost in December when the auction house hosts Abu Dhabi Collectors' Week, its first series of luxury sales events in the emirate. Formula 1 cars, the fastest Aston Martin ever, huge diamonds, rare Rolex watches and lots of other expensive gems will go under the hammer from 3 to 5 December." With the expanded annual loss reported by Robert Smith and Josh Spero in the Financial Times (paywall), the company is also in urgent need of new sources of revenue.

The auction results for the Karpidas collection in London are cause for celebration for George Nelson at Artnews: "The Sotheby's sale of British socialite and arts patron Pauline Karpidas's collection blew past its £53 million high estimate on Wednesday night, taking in £100 million (all prices include fees). The “white glove” result—meaning 100 per cent of lots sold—was the highest total for a designated auction held in London." Is this already a sign of a market recovery? It was already clear in advance that the auction would be successful. The provenance was exquisite, the works first-class, the estimates attractive and all lots sold in advance with guarantees – hardly anything was left to chance. Nevertheless, the bidding wars are a good sign, because sentiment is probably the most important economic driver in the art market.

Susanne Schreiber experienced a brilliant auction at Kornfeld in Bern for the Handelsblatt: "An offer like this will never come back onto the market: 247 catalogue numbers of prints by Edvard Munch, compiled during the artist's lifetime by the banker and lawyer Arnold Budczies. Kornfeld in Bern dedicated a separate catalogue to this Munch collection, which had been preserved in the family, listing not only the most distinguished previous owners, but also the printers of the prints, which are important for connoisseurs. According to its own figures, the Bern auction house generated sales of just under £17 million on 11 September, out of a total of around £80 million. Fifteen million-pound works in one season – no auction house in this country can achieve that. And on top of that, 100 works above the threshold of 100,000 Swiss francs. A brilliant result. The combination of motif and first-class provenance was a recurring price driver here.“

Meanwhile, the auctions in Hong Kong in early October are sending positive signals, reports Elisa Carollo in the Observer: "Led by the highly anticipated Picasso painting Buste de femme (1944), Christie's 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on Friday, 26 September, in Hong Kong closed just shy of a white-glove result with a total of HK$565,649,000 ($73,038,183), giving a strong start to the season for the fall marquee evening sales, now beginning in Asia before moving to London and New York."

I describe private deals and private auctions as instruments not unlike shadow banks in their lack of transparency for Monopol (paywall).

Relief spreads after the evening auctions in London, and Elisa Carollo rejoices in the Observer: "Kicking off the action, Christie's 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale on 15 October achieved a robust £106,925,400 ($142,852,000), marking the auction house's best Frieze Week evening sale in more than seven years. The total was up 30 per cent from last year, with 92 per cent sold by lot and 90 per cent sold by value. [...] Led by a £17.6 million Francis Bacon, Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction closed at $63.5 million. While the total was less than half of Christie’s the night before, the comparison needs context: this was Sotheby’s third major London evening sale since March—whereas it was Christie’s first of the season.”

The sale of the auction house Bonhams by private equity firm Epiris to credit manager Pemberton Asset Management is reported by George Nelson at Artnews and in more detail by Artlyst.

Roula Khalaf investigates why the Chinese auction market still provides such unreliable figures for the Financial Times.

Bettina Wohlfarth in early November describes spring fever in the Paris art market in her follow-up report on the auctions there for the FAZ: "Sotheby's, Christie's, Artcurial and the auctioneers at Drouot generated a good €220 million during the autumn art week – about a third more than in the previous year. Christophe Lucien opened the most exciting auction when he called out a portrait of Dora Maar, painted by Pablo Picasso in 1943, in the packed hall at Drouot. “Buste de femme au chapeau à fleurs” had remained in the same private collection for 80 years and had previously only been known through two black-and-white photographs. The hammer fell after 35 minutes at €27 million – far exceeding expectations by €8 million. The final bidders for the work were all in the room, with the hammer falling in favour of the well-known dealer and collector David Nahmad.“

There hasn't been such good news from the auction market for quite some time. Art worth around two billion dollars changed hands at last week's autumn auctions in New York. Elisa Carollo reports on Sotheby's for the Observer, Zachary Small and Julia Halperin for the New York Times (paywall may apply) and Sarah Douglas for Artnews. Harrison Jacobs and Brian Boucher write about the week at Christie's in Artnews, Eileen Kinsella in Artnet (paywall may apply) and Elisa Carollo in the Observer. In his summary of the results for Artnews, however, George Nelson warns against euphoria: "One person who wasn't getting too carried away, though, was Fine Art Group founder Philip Hoffman, who told ARTnews, 'While there's certainly more interest, I wouldn't say that the market is rushing back. There's still a distinct lack of buying activity at the young contemporary galleries. The lower to mid-market remains a tough place to be.‘

In his detailed analysis of the New York auction week, Zachary Small identifies several trends for the New York Times: "But with some business strategy and a little luck, auction houses sold £2.2 billion worth of art last week. Overall, the major auctions in New York in November achieved a 77 per cent increase over the corresponding sales last year (though still 30 per cent below the market's recent peak of $3.2 billion in 2022). How did they do it? This year, auction houses were more cautious in their estimates and encouraged sellers to lower their expectations. They also guaranteed that 70 per cent of the estimated value of the evening sales was virtually sold before the auction rooms opened. Executives procured rare paintings from the estates of recently deceased individuals [...] The mixed results signalled that while the art market has not yet returned to its recent highs, it may be regaining its footing. Twelve paintings sold for more than $20 million each, compared to seven last November, but fewer than 24 in November 2023.

A well-rounded affair. After art auctions in New York broke numerous records this season, Christie's in London has now sold a well-known Fabergé egg for £22.9 million including buyer's premium, as Andy Battaglia reports in early December in Artnews. Richard Whiddington recounts the history of the egg at Artnet. Cologne-based art insurance broker Stephan Zilkens assesses the result for WDR Aktuell (YouTube video).

Johannes Wendland summarises the auction results at Grisebach in Berlin in the Handelsblatt: "Thanks in no small part to the Bauer collection, Grisebach achieved a total turnover of €20.8 million, of which €5.7 million alone was attributable to the 115 lots in the collection, to which Grisebach dedicated an entire afternoon. The top lot here was the small ‘Self-Portrait to the Left’ from 1906 by Paula Modersohn-Becker, a reduced, intense oil tempera work on paper on cardboard, which Bauer had acquired in 1942 at the Ferdinand Möller Gallery. Möller was one of four German art dealers who were only allowed to sell art deemed ‘degenerate’ abroad. Now the work has gone to a European private collection for a record price of 1.3 million euros.

I followed the spectacular evening auction at Ketterer in Munich on 5 December for Artmagazine.

Sabine Spindler reads the dissolution of trends in the art market from the auctions at Ketterer in Munich for the Handelsblatt: "For decades, there were trends in the auction market. After the Expressionists came the ZERO wave, then Pop Art experienced a revival. “Today it's different,” Robert Ketterer told Handelsblatt at the end of last week, shortly after the many highs of the 600th auction of modern and contemporary art. “The new trend is: artists as brands.” The eight million euros in proceeds alone prove him right." In the FAZ on 13 December, Brita Sachs writes: "Total sales of €51 million (including surcharges, excluding private sales) in the second half of 2025 put Ketterer in the top position among German art auctioneers for the 15th time in a row. The book auction in Hamburg contributed €2.3 million, with Walter Barth's collection of Goethe letters proving a particular highlight. The Goethe and Schiller Archive of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar was able to acquire 23 lots from this collection.‘

Christiane Fricke summarises the auctions at Lempertz in Cologne for the Handelsblatt: ’Henrik Hanstein, managing director of the Lempertz auction house, sounds exhausted as he takes stock after a busy week of auctions. “The whole market has seen better years.” But the auctions are doing better. Hanstein is thinking of the many galleries that are up to their necks in water, not his own company. Behind him lie the photo auction, the evening auction – a mix of old masters, three jewels and a Roman relief fragment – and the day auctions for modern and contemporary art. [...9 Including the buyer's premium, the total turnover in front of a well-filled hall amounted to 6.6 million euros, including post-auction sales. Including the day sales, the total result is 11.49 million euros for approximately 395 lots, excluding the photo auction."

With its move to the Met Breuer Building in New York, Sotheby's is broadening its base, explains Elisa Carollo in the Observer: "It's striking how Sotheby's, globally, is toeing the line between museum and luxury brand, deploying a form of intentional brand dilution designed to multiply its symbolic capital across price tiers and target audiences within an economy shaped by content, experience and spectacle. Altogether, the rollout appears to be a successful expression of Sotheby's ‘New World’ experience, which saw the auction house opening boutique-style flagships across its Hong Kong, Paris and now New York venues, with full cross-category luxury environments designed to attract audiences far beyond traditional art-world insiders—targeting visitors who might not buy at auction but will engage with the Sotheby’s brand at other levels, whether that means shopping for one-of-a-kind jewellery or buying an exhibition souvenir.”