Collapse or Transition to Smarter Market?

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” Leo Tolstoy wrote in the opening of Anna Karenina. The line is so iconic that it gave rise to a principle: for success to occur in any complex endeavor, all key factors must be present and functioning properly, while failure requires only a single missing element. This year, as the art market faltered, many dealers learned that lesson the hard way.

It is possible that every such business, like every unhappy family, has its own reasons for calling it quits, and in fact there are varying explanations for the raft of gallery closures this year. But when the numbers overall tell indisputably of a shrinking market, it’s hard to believe that many don’t come down to the same thing: too much money going out the door on implacable overheads, not enough coming in from buyers. 

Sure, some have questioned whether the doom-and-gloom reporting is excessive. ARTnews’s Alex Greenberger rejoiced in February at the appearance of small new galleries. Galleries large and small also expanded. And it’s true that ever since Art Basel Paris, the mood in the art market has brightened, and November saw the New York marquee auctions move some $2.2 billion in art, which for many indicated heightened confidence.

But overall, when it came to galleries, the dominant vibe was one of endings more than beginnings—and it continued a building drumbeat. Those who closed or significantly downsized in 2025, after all, joined others that have expired in previous years. These may all be part of natural cycles; Miami dealer Frederic Snitzer recently called it “a healthy, natural thinning of the herd in terms of quality.” But the scene is such that Artnet News even recently published a guide for those throwing in the towel, titled “how to close your gallery.”

Let’s quickly run down a fairly comprehensive list of the doors that have slammed shut in the last twelve months—leavened with some of the expansions and new ventures. 

The growing necrology gained most of its new entries in the year’s second half. Many were shocked when Tim Blum told ARTnews in July that he would “sunset” his gallery (with locations in Los Angeles and Tokyo and a New York outpost in the works) and pursue a new model. A week later, collector Adam Lindemann shuttered his New York gallery Venus Over Manhattan in July after 14 years, saying, “It’s time to wave the white flag.” On a contrasting note, Swiss-based megagallery Hauser & Wirth announced in July a new outpost in Palo Alto (where Pace closed in 2022 after six years) to open in 2026.

In August, Clearing Gallery of New York and Los Angeles revealed that it would shutter after 14 years, and New York–based Tanya Bonakdar chose to wind down her L.A. space of seven years. In the plus column, a trio: Claire Oliver Gallery expanded in Harlem; Sebastian Gladstone expanded in the City of Angels; and Ben Hunter expanded in London. And one gallery often described as closing was really more like a rebrand: five years after the founder’s death, Kasmin transitioned to Olney Gleason, run by two senior staffers.

The back to school season saw abundant red ink. New York’s Tilton Gallery announced in September that it would close (eight years after the founder’s death); Los Angeles’s veteran LA Louver shuttered; New York’s Sean Kelly Gallery opted to stop mounting shows at its Los Angeles venue; Pace closed its Hong Kong gallery; and San Francisco stalwart Claudia Altman-Seigel closed after some 16 years, saying the market had become “too difficult.” Galerie Francesca Pia of Zurich, founded in 1990, called it quits in October, and Almine Rech revealed she would drop her London gallery after more than a decade—if temporarily and while continuing to operate eight other locations, from New York to Shanghai. 

As Thanksgiving approached, New York’s Sperone Westwater revealed that it would close after half a century amid a legal battle between the founders. Stephen Friedman, of New York and London, announced that he would close his Manhattan outpost—less than 30 months after arriving. London’s Project Native Informant called it a wrap, as did Munich’s Nir Altman. On the upside, Artnet revealed that a pair of New Yorkers, Lomex gallery founder Alexander Shulan and art advisor Ralph DeLuca, would team up on Lomex Las Vegas in a Sin City ranch home. 

And just in time for the December holidays, mixed tidings: Paris’s taste-making gallery High Art announced that it was closing its physical space, and South Africa’s Stevenson Gallery said it would close its Johannesburg location after 17 years—while continuing on in Cape Town and Amsterdam. In the wins column, Hauser & Wirth bought a historic palazzo in Sicily, where it will open a new gallery by 2030, and Pace, Di Donna, and David Schrader formed a new partnership that will ramp up in spring.

So—what does it all mean? At least one market insider warns against giving in to pessimism.

“Closures tell different stories,” said Kinsey Robb, executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), in a phone interview. ADAA represents over 200 member galleries in nearly 40 U.S. cities and runs an annual New York art fair. “Some reflect exhaustion or high overhead or a shifting business model but then you have others, we really should acknowledge, that are part of a natural generational turnover, as we’re in a field where many galleries are owner-run small businesses.

“I think this period has looked difficult for some, but I don’t see it as a collapse for the market but rather as a moment of transition,” she said. “2025 has felt dramatic as a whole year, not just in the art world. I try to keep that perspective.”

Robb pushed back on some of the reporting, resorting to a common expression: “It’s not all doom and gloom,” she said, “but more a cautious, more selective, smarter, more flexible art market.”