Collapse or Transition to Smarter Market?

Leo Tolstoy in “Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” anna karenina. This line is so iconic that it gave birth to a principle: for any complex endeavor to succeed, all key factors must be present and functioning properly, and failure requires only one missing element. This year, as the art market slumped, many dealers learned the hard way.

Perhaps each such business, like every unfortunate family, has its own reasons for exiting, and indeed there are different explanations for the large number of gallery closures this year. But when the headline numbers indisputably show that the market is shrinking, it’s hard to believe that many are boiling it down to the same thing: too much money is being lost and not enough coming from buyers due to difficult-to-flatten overheads.

Of course, some question whether such pessimistic reporting is excessive. art newsAlex Greenberger was delighted with the emergence of a small new gallery in February. Galleries large and small also expanded. Indeed, the mood in the art market has improved since Art Basel in Paris, with some $2.2 billion of art sold at November’s major New York auctions, a sign to many of growing confidence.

But overall, for the gallery, the dominant vibe is one of endings rather than beginnings – and it continues the drumbeat of construction. After all, companies that close or significantly downsize in 2025 join the ranks of companies that have expired in previous years. These may all be part of a natural cycle; what Miami dealer Frederic Snitzer recently called “a healthy, natural thinning of the herd in terms of quality.” But the scene is like this Art Network News There was even a guide recently released for those who have thrown in the towel, titled “How to Close Your Gallery.”

Let’s quickly run through a fairly comprehensive list of the doors that have closed on some expansions and new businesses over the past twelve months.

The ever-growing field of Necrosis received most of its new entries in the second half of the year. Many people were shocked when Tim Blum told the story art news In July, he will “close” his gallery (outposts in Los Angeles and Tokyo are under construction, as well as one in New York) and pursue a new model. A week later, collector Adam Lindemann closed his New York gallery of 14 years, Venus Over Manhattan, in July, saying: “It’s time to wave the white flag.” In stark contrast, Switzerland-based Hauser & Wirth announced in July that it would open a new gallery in Palo Alto (Pace Gallery will close it after six years in 2022). Closing in 2026) and opening a new branch in 2026.

In August, Clearing Gallery in New York and Los Angeles announced they would close after 14 years, with New York’s Tanya Bonakdar choosing to end her seven-year space in Los Angeles. In the plus column, there’s a trio: Claire Oliver Gallery is expanding in Harlem; Sebastian Gladstone is expanding in the City of Angels; and Ben Hunter is expanding in London. A gallery often described as closing was actually more like a rebranding: five years after the founder’s death, Kasmin turned to Olney Gleeson and was run by two senior staff.

Back-to-school season saw serious losses. New York’s Tilton Gallery announced it was closing in September (eight years after its founder’s death); Los Angeles’ veteran Louvre Los Angeles closed; New York’s Sean Kelly Gallery chose to stop showing shows at its Los Angeles venue; Pace closed its Hong Kong gallery; and San Francisco stalwart Claudia Altman-Seigel closed after some 16 years, saying the market had become “too difficult.” Zurich’s Galerie Francesca Pia, founded in 1990, announced its exit in October, with Almine Rech revealing she will give up the London gallery after more than a decade – if temporarily, while continuing to operate eight other locations from New York to Shanghai.

As Thanksgiving approaches, New York’s Sperone Westwater has revealed that the company will close after half a century due to a legal dispute between its founders. New York and London-based Stephen Friedman announced he was closing his Manhattan outpost less than 30 months after arriving. London’s Project Native Informant calls it the end of it, as does Munich’s Nir Altman. On the bright side, art network It has been revealed that a pair of New Yorkers, Lomex Gallery founder Alexander Shulan and art consultant Ralph DeLuca, will collaborate on the Lomex Sin City Ranch residence in Las Vegas.

Just as the December holidays arrive, the news is mixed: Paris-based taste gallery High Art has announced it will close its physical space, and South Africa’s Stevenson Gallery said it will close its Johannesburg gallery after 17 years, while continuing to open galleries in Cape Town and Amsterdam. In a triumphant column, Hauser & Wirth has purchased a historic palace in Sicily and will open a new gallery there in 2030, while Pace, Di Donner and David Schrader have formed a new partnership that will intensify in the spring.

So – what does this all mean? At least one market insider warned against giving in to pessimism.

“The closures tell a different story,” Kinsey Robb, executive director of the American Art Dealers Association (ADAA), said in a phone interview. ADAA represents more than 200 member galleries in nearly 40 cities in the United States and hosts the New York Art Fair annually. “Some reflect fatigue, high overheads or shifting business models, but we should really acknowledge that there are others, which are part of a natural generational change because we are in an area where many galleries are owner-run small businesses.

“I think this period looks difficult for some people, but I don’t see it as a market collapse but as a transitional moment,” she said. “There’s drama throughout 2025, not just in the arts world. I try to keep that perspective.”

Rob disputes some reports and adopts a common expression: “It’s not all doom and gloom,” she says, “but an art market that’s more cautious, more selective, smarter, more nimble.”