Welcome to Artsy Buyer Trends, our research report on the themes that shaped art buying in 2025.
Drawing on analysis of user searches and purchases on Artsy—paired with signals from fashion, design, wellness, and culture—this report identifies five major themes. Together, they reveal buyer interest in introspection, as well as a desire for sensory depth and emotional grounding in a year marked by volatility.
The five trends are as follows:
Across all five trends, one throughline emerges: Art buyers are seeking works that reflect how they want to feel and how they want to live. They are turning to art for stability, connection, escape, and self-expression at a time when the world feels uncertain and overstimulating.
Download the 2025 Art Buyer Trends report to read the full findings.
Here’s a quick overview of each trend.
In 2025, art buyers gravitated to a color that psychologists have long associated with calm and tranquility: blue. Blue artworks have surged in popularity on Artsy, mirroring trends across fashion and beauty.
Key stats:
- Searches for “blue” on Artsy were up 20% year over year.
- Searches for “cobalt” on Artsy rose 131% year over year.
- Water imagery also made a splash: Searches for “ocean” on Artsy increased 33% year over year.
The rise of small-sized artworks—defined as under 15.75 inches by 15.75 inches—was a defining trend of art buying in 2025. Much of this is due to small artworks’ relative affordability, ease of placement, and appeal within contemporary interior aesthetics.
Key stats:
- 40% of all purchases on Artsy in 2025 were for small artworks.
- Acquisitions tagged “miniature and small-scale paintings” increased 66% year over year.
- Searches for “small” on Artsy rose 49% year over year.
Artworks featuring tables with abundant food and people eating together saw increased interest in 2025. This trend in art buying took place as culture recentered the table as both a social lifeline and a stage.
Key stats:
- Purchases of artworks tagged “food” were up 61% year over year.
- Artsy searches for “meal” rose 28% year over year.
- Searches for “dining” on Artsy rose 38% year over year.
Art purchases in 2025 reflected a growing cultural desire for nature as a site of restoration and escape. Artworks portraying people immersed in nature spiked in popularity, signaling that, in our contemporary imagination, landscapes are ways of visualizing ourselves getting beyond daily life.
Key stats:
- Purchases of works tagged “earth tones” were up 29% year over year.
- Search interest in related topics on Artsy also increased: “picnic” was up 208%, “outdoors” up 80%, “nature” up 30%, and “landscapes” up 19% year over year.
2025 has been a landmark year for David Hockney, who has mounted museum shows everywhere from the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris to the West Bund Museum in Shanghai. On Artsy, demand rose for his print works, which are available at more attainable price points.
Key stats:
- Hockney is the third-most-searched artist on Artsy of 2025.
- Searches for “david hockney” on Artsy were up 49% year over year.
Artsy Buyer Trends 2025 was developed through insights from Artsy data.
All purchase data is restricted to e-commerce and auction direct purchases made directly through the Artsy platform. Percentage growth for artwork description tags was measured on a year-over-year basis from January 1st to September 17th. Artwork description tags were submitted by galleries listing works for sale on Artsy.
This report also draws on internal searches made on Artsy, with percentage growth measured on a year-over-year basis from January 1st to November 7th.
Inquiries—messages from potential buyers about works they’re interested in purchasing—are referenced once and were drawn from the period January 1 to October 28, 2025. Purchase data for small artworks was drawn for the period January 1 to October 28, 2025. David Hockney is the third-most-searched artist, as determined by data drawn from January 1 to October 28, 2025.
Header image clockwise from top left: Clockwise from top left: Midori Terashima, detail of Hear -dance-, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Yukiko Nakajima; Fernando Cidoncha, detail of Friends in the Grass, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Arcadia Contemporary; Carlos Rodriguez, detail of Effigy 1, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Hashimoto Contemporary; Callie Connors, detail of Dreams of Summer, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Deep Space Gallery.
