Market insight · 21 August 2026
The Price Tag Is the Story
What Artsy’s 2025 Gallery Report tells collectors about how art is actually being bought—and what a good gallery owes you before you buy.
Every year the art world produces a stack of reports about itself, and most of them are written for dealers. Artsy’s Gallery Report 2025, the platform’s second edition, is nominally one of those: 40 partner galleries ranked across large, mid-size, small and secondary-market categories, based on commercial activity from June 2024 to June 2025.
But the interesting material is not the leaderboard. It is the behaviour underneath it. Line up what the top-performing galleries have in common and you get something close to a checklist of what collectors have quietly demanded for years—and too often have not received.
The finding that should change how you shop
Artsy’s companion Art Market Trends 2025 report found that artworks with visible pricing on Artsy are about six times more likely to sell than those without it. The Gallery Report reinforces the same direction: successful galleries show visible prices or price ranges and make more works available for immediate online purchase.
That is not merely a marketing statistic. It is a measurement of friction. The companion report also found that 69% of collectors had hesitated to buy art because of a lack of transparency.
For a collector, the practical takeaway is blunt: a gallery that shows you a price—or gives you a clear range—is telling you something about how it intends to treat you. There can be legitimate reasons for discretion, but basic commercial information should not be used to make a prospective buyer feel excluded.
Speed is the new courtesy
Top-performing galleries of every size responded to buyer enquiries at least 20% faster than less successful peers. Among mid-size galleries, the fastest averaged a two-hour reply; another leading responder answered 96% of the enquiries it received. Artsy recommends a 24-hour turnaround.
“You’d be amazed how many people ignore two emails, and then the third one, they go ‘oh, yeah, sorry.’”— Adam Baldwin, founder of Baldwin
If you have ever emailed a gallery about a work and heard nothing, you already know this is not a universal standard. It should be.
The money is moving down the price ladder
The year’s clearest trend runs through every gallery category: winning galleries offer several points of entry. Artsy notes that even prominent galleries now present works at three-figure and low four-figure prices to welcome new clients who may progress into higher price brackets later.
Perrotin took the top position among large galleries, displacing the previous year’s leader, Almine Rech. Pinto Gallery, a new entrant, led the secondary-market ranking by creating multiple entry points across limited editions, originals and highly sought-after names.
The message for anyone building a collection on a real-world budget is encouraging. The accessible end of the market is not a consolation prize. It is an active part of the market, and leading galleries no longer treat it as an afterthought.
Small galleries are where discovery happens
Artsy gave smaller galleries more room in the 2025 report, citing their critical importance to the art ecosystem and growing collector demand for accessibly priced works by emerging artists.
Cob, a London gallery founded in 2011 as an artist-led project space, topped the small-gallery ranking. Unit, founded in a modest West London pop-up and now based in Mayfair, led the mid-size category for a second consecutive year.
What these galleries share is depth of information. Top small galleries publish substantial artist biographies and career data because context creates credibility—especially for emerging voices without established name recognition. Detailed descriptions and multiple images help a collector understand the work before opening a conversation.
Where Studio 54 Fine Art stands
At Studio 54 Fine Art, the report reads less like news and more like validation of the approach we are building: communicate price or a clear range, answer promptly, explain the artist and the work in depth, and welcome collectors at the beginning of their journey as readily as those well along it.
The data suggests that is not simply good manners. It is how the online art market now works.