From Europe to the US - What we learnt from Paris ahead of the New York Sales 

 London, 2 November 2025

Why is it that we all left Paris with such a spring in our steps? Simple: the city organised a proper cultural festival, simultaneously hosting Art|Basel’s fair, exhibitions and auctions to create an extraordinary roster of memorable events. From the opening days of the Grand Palais Fair to the drop of the final gavel at the Sotheby’s day sales, the selling side of the art world buzzed with excitement while the great Jacques-Louis David retrospective at the Louvre and the Gerhard Richter show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton offered equally impressive respite. Everyone in the artistic and cultural world was filled with optimism. This was the most positive atmosphere we have witnessed in Paris since the Yves Saint Laurent sale in 2009. Félicitations, mes amis français!

As we approach New York, here are some of Art Pylkkänen’s findings to add a little context to our very positive frame of mind. All the dealers that we spoke to reported that there was far more activity in Paris this October compared with 2024. The VIP opening day was filled with international collectors making their first trip to the Grand Palais Fair, resulting in strong sales. Laetitia Catoir at Thaddeus Ropac Gallery, for example, reported a record number of sales from their booth and their Rauschenberg show, describing a new air of “speed and decisiveness” among collectors who came to their booth. Notable sales included a major Burri and a sensational large Rauschenberg, based on Jacques-Louis David’s portrait of Napoleon, entitled Able was I ere I saw Elba with an asking price of $1,750,000. Ropac had brought the piece to the fair to coincide with the Louvre’s David show - a very tactical approach, and proof that clever initiatives in the art market can reap great rewards. 

In a similar fashion, the stellar show of Gerhard Richter enticed two major paintings to Art|Basel Paris. Both works sold - quickly - for prices exceeding $20 million. Soon after the opening of the fair, Hauser & Wirth reported the sale of their monumental Abstraktes Bild of 1987; Lévy Gorvy Dayan quietly announced the sale of their sensational 1988 canvas of the same title, carrying an asking price of $25.5 million. These sales, along with other masterpieces with price tags above $20 million brought to the fair by Acquavella, Nahmad and others, were hugely reassuring to collectors and dealers preparing for New York Sales week in November. The auction houses, who will be carrying significant numbers of guaranteed paintings at firm estimates in New York, witnessed these high-end sales and, doubtless, breathed a sigh of relief. The market seems back on its feet.

Further proof of the art market’s improving health was observed across a series of very successful auctions at Christie’s at Avenue Matignon. Major works from the Modernes Private Collection fared extremely well, with a 1903 Parisian Signac La Passerelle Debilly making €4.2 million and Max Ernst’s sublime Dada assemblage of Fruit d’une longue expérience from 1919 making four times its estimate at €3.3 million to Art Pylkkänen. Top price in the Christie’s mixed property evening auction went to Yves Klein’s monumental IKB 71 California, which was brought from the US for sale in France and made €18.4 million to a private bidder working with Roni Gilat-Baharaff of Christie’s Tel Aviv. 

In typically spirited fashion, Giovanna Bertazzoni commented after the sales, “There is a vibrant buzz of anticipation around the New York offerings. It will be exciting to see how the palpable confidence of Frieze London and Art|Basel Paris translates to New York - now we are facing the real test for the market, and the parade of stars is undeniably very seductive”. Valérie Didier-Hess of Christie’s Paris emphasised the depth of buyers in the day sales: “The middle market is very strong, we have a lot of Christie’s Live bidding and we are seeing a lot of new clients bringing more depth to the bidding.” Valérie also pointed to a shift in approach contributing to such healthy results: “We have been much more selective in the artworks and artists we represent, very strict with our estimates, leading to very good results.”

Sotheby’s followed with equally successful auctions, claiming their highest sold totals in France. Following Pace’s fair-opening sale of a Modigliani in the region of $10 million at the Grand Palais, Sotheby’s achieved remarkable prices for two Modigliani works, much to the surprise of several market veterans. Richter and Modigliani are riding high. €10.6 million for a small 1915 male portrait, Raymond, is an exceptional price, but it does not come close to the stellar €27 million achieved by Elvire en buste. Reflecting on this result after the sale, specialist André Zlattinger explained, “The sheer beauty of the painting, which had been in the same collection since 1974, attracted truly international competition, and the price came as no surprise to us when we saw the long list of bidders interested in the work.” Sotheby’s, like Christie’s, must also be approaching the New York sales (and the launch of their new Breuer Building saleroom) with some confidence.

Hôtel Drouot pulled a Parisian rabbit from a hat with the unearthing of a Picasso Dora Maar last seen in 1944 when it was photographed in Picasso’s studio by none other than Brassaï. Titled Buste de femme au chapeau à fleurs, unframed, untouched and in immaculate condition, the piece was the perfect candidate for the perfect week. The piece was sold without estimate; with the auctioneer starting the bidding low, Joe Nahmad noted that there were over 30 bids for the work, including competition from several American and Asian collectors. The Nahmads had no intention of leaving the sale without it and eventually snagged the work for €32 million. As paterfamilias David Nahmad so succinctly put it, “To be able to acquire a true masterpiece by Picasso, unseen in over 80 years, is a once in a lifetime opportunity”.

What does this all mean for the market as we approach New York? Buyers - and sellers - will be comforted to see how many works have sold for over $10 million over the past 8 weeks. As countless art professionals have made clear to us, they have also seen plenty of private sales at this level. The question remains whether the market can absorb the sheer number of works that are cascading onto the market at price points well over the $20 million level, especially when one includes the auction houses’ high buyer’s premium levels. At last count, there are over 12 groups coming from major collections, and from them many individual works are priced at $40 million plus. This being said, there are truly great works coming fresh to the market from outstanding collector’s estates, such as Leonard Lauder, Cindy and Jay Pritzker, Elaine Wynn, Arnold and Joan Saltzman, as well as the Kawamura Memorial Museum in Japan. Also coming to market are individual works of outstanding calibre from the likes of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Irma and Norman Braman. Clearly consignor confidence has returned. Now we need buyers with equally strong appetites. The content of these sales is of similar calibre to the spectacular Christie’s sales of 2014, 2015 and 2016. It will be fascinating to see whether, in this very different global climate, those historic results will be matched or possibly even surpassed.

Art Pylkkänen

London

2 November 2025