Paintings and small-format works retain demand as global collecting channels diversify and Korean auctions favor modern masters

The figures below combine a global survey of high-net-worth collectors, transaction data from an online art platform and Korean auction results. The samples are not directly equivalent, but they consistently indicate that purchases are expanding at lower price points while higher-value spending remains concentrated on artists with established records.

Global art-market sales reached $59.6billion in 2025, up 4% from the previous year. Transaction volume increased 2% to 41.5million. The recovery, however, was not distributed evenly across price levels or artist categories.

Painting remained the central medium. In the Art Basel and UBS survey of high-net-worth collectors, paintings accounted for 27% of fine-art spending in 2024 and the first half of 2025. Sculpture and digital art each represented approximately 14%.

Within painting, demand shifted toward smaller and more accessible works. According to Artsy’s 2025 transaction data, works measuring approximately 40cm by 40cm or less accounted for 40% of purchases. Acquisitions tagged as small-scale or miniature paintings rose 66% year on year, while searches containing the word “small” increased 49%.

These figures help explain why artists and galleries increasingly present small paintings and editions alongside larger exhibition works. The data, however, reflect activity on a single platform and should not be treated as the medium composition of the entire global market.

There was also a difference between stated interest in emerging artists and actual spending. In Artsy’s survey, 72% of collectors expressed interest in emerging artists. The global HNW survey found that 66% had purchased work by an artist they had newly discovered.

Emerging and early-career artists nevertheless received 35% of HNW collector spending, down 17 percentage points from the previous year. The share directed to established artists rose 18 percentage points to 44%. Discovery expanded, but higher-value purchases moved toward artists with longer exhibition histories, established distribution and comparable price records.

The global market also showed greater diversity in media and acquisition channels. Fifty-one percent of surveyed HNW collectors bought digital art in 2024 or the first half of 2025, with the medium accounting for around 14% of fine-art spending. Works by women represented 44% of the surveyed collections, compared with 33% in 2018.

Direct purchases from artists accounted for 20% of total HNW art spending. Forty-three percent of respondents purchased from artists’ studios, 37% commissioned works and 35% had bought through links on artists’ Instagram accounts.

In the Korean auction market, transaction volume and total value moved in different directions. According to K-ARTMARKET’s 2025 annual data, works priced below KRW5million accounted for 74.7% of successful auction lots. Most transactions therefore occurred within a range accessible to a broader collector base.

A separate analysis by the Korea Art Authentication and Appraisal Association found that the number of offered and sold lots declined in 2025, while total auction value increased by approximately 22% to KRW140.5billion. A limited number of high-value works accounted for much of the increase.

Marc Chagall led the market with total auction sales of KRW16.78billion. Kim Whanki followed with KRW12.42billion, Lee Ufan with KRW9.23billion, Lee Bae with KRW5.91billion and Kim Tschang-yeul with KRW5.37billion. The year’s highest-priced lot was also a Chagall painting, sold for KRW9.4billion.

Among Korean artists, Kim Whanki, Lee Ufan, Lee Bae, Kim Tschang-yeul, Park Seo-Bo, Ha Chong-hyun and Yun Hyong-keun appeared in the upper auction rankings. Their work is supported by repeated transactions, international exhibitions, institutional collections and established price comparisons.

Entry into the higher-value market remained limited for younger artists. Of the 30 artists with the largest auction totals, 10 were living Korean artists and only two—Woo Kuk-won and Kim Sun-woo—were in their forties. Kim Sun-woo recorded an 85.2% sell-through rate, but his total of KRW1.02billion remained substantially below the figures for established masters.

This does not indicate that Korean collectors are avoiding younger artists. Since works below KRW5million made up most auction transactions, a significant share of purchases involving new collectors and younger artists is likely to occur at the lower end of the market. Conversion from this segment into higher-value auction results generally requires a longer record.

The difference between the global and Korean markets is also partly a difference in available data. Global surveys capture digital art, women artists, commissions and direct studio transactions. Public Korean data remain concentrated on auctions, making it difficult to measure the media, scale and prices of emerging artists’ works sold through galleries and art fairs.

Current collector preferences can therefore be divided into two levels. Smaller formats and accessible prices support first purchases and the discovery of new artists. As expenditure increases, institutional exhibitions, collections, provenance, auction history and price continuity carry greater weight.

Producing smaller works or lowering prices alone does not establish a sustainable market. The relationship between entry-level works and an artist’s central body of work must remain clear, while materials, editions, dates and exhibition records require consistent documentation. Galleries also need to maintain transparent pricing, provenance and long-term management of an artist’s work.

Demand for discovering new artists remains present in both the global and Korean markets. Actual capital, however, continues to favor works supported by verifiable records, suggesting that the long-term position of emerging artists will depend on how consistently those records are developed alongside the work itself.

SayArt.net
Jason Yim yimjongho1969@gmail.com