The billionaires stopped buying art. A generational question?

The demand for luxury and lower -price collectibles is on the rise, but the acquisitions of high -value works of art is stagnar – and the world’s large auction houses are feeling the cooling.

Super Rins have a strange relationship with art. Recently, we had news that they were taking original works of art (with the results they would be expected). Now, simply stopped buying them.

The Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips auction houses collected 3.78 billion of euros in the first half of 2025 – a 6% decrease compared to last year and impressive 44% below 2022Note a.

This abrupt fall makes the first half of this year the weaker in a decade – excluding the year of the pandemic – and marks the third consecutive year of falling in sales of artwork of great value.

The most affected category is the Postwar and contemporary artwhich fell 19%, details the.

At a time when wealth is expanding, and there Why people are not buying art?

This remains It appears at a strange height. The richest 10% of Americans added 35.15 billion euros to its heritage Liquid since 2020, thanks to the climb of actions, real estate and business evaluations.

Historically, more wealth meant more expenses in art “But this time, this trend was not.

An explanation may be generational. Baby Boomer collectors – those who have spent decades to build large art collections – have been buying less and in some cases selling. Millennials and Generation Zin turn, They seem to have different tastes.

New generations prefer to bid online, choose cheaper works (on average, below 50,000 euros), and show More interest in luxury goods and Digital Culture than in 9.5 million euros paintings.

Na Christie’s, 80% of bids are now made now onlineand almost a third of the winning drivers are millennials or generation Z.

The question now is whether these falls are just a postpandy slowdown or a sign of something more permanent – As tastes change and younger collectors set the tone.