Two pieces of art sold for more than $100 million, suggesting the top-end of the market is on the upswing after a years-long decline.
The sale of a $181 million Jackson Pollock painting and a $108 million Constantin Brancusi sculpture, both belonging to the estate of former Condé Nast publisher S.I. Newhouse Jr., built on growing momentum for the international art market: A recent report from Swiss bank UBS showed global art sales increased by 4% annually in 2025, a modest rise but one that stemmed a two-year contraction.
However, analysts fear that the war in the Middle East — increasingly one of the world’s leading art-buying markets — could drag on sales globally.