Flowers in the Park
The tents were up in The Regent’s Park, the coffee queue curled round the corner, and on the first day of Frieze London and Frieze Masters, held from 14 to 18 October, a painting of flowers older than the Bank of England changed hands for around £5 million (pounds sterling), roughly $6.6 million (US dollars). Jan Brueghel the Elder’s Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase, sold by Hauser & Wirth at Frieze Masters, the week’s top reported sale.
Almost 300 galleries filled the two fairs. Gagosian reportedly sold all six of its new Albert Oehlen paintings, each understood to be above $1 million. Pace said nearly all of its Marina Perez Simão canvases were sold by the end of preview day, at $250,000 each. At the other end, a young London gallery, Harlesden High Street, sold its whole stand of works priced from £2,000.
I am not here to tell you to buy a painting. I am here because an art fair is one of the best places to watch how confident wealthy people feel about spending their money. Nobody needs a £5 million still life, which is why the mood around it is so telling.
The Headlines Shouted, the Middle Whispered
The quieter reporting was more useful. One adviser told The Art Newspaper that “the very high and the very low stuff” was selling best, and that it is “still a strange time”. Dealers said collectors were taking longer to decide than they did before the market cooled. At Frieze Masters, several galleries had works on reserve that had not yet turned into sales.
So the mood was better, but not giddy. One market newsletter called it “more confident and relaxed than in recent years”. I would put it this way: relaxed enough to look, careful enough to sleep on it.
London Keeps Its Seat
The bigger picture fits. The latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report found that global art sales rose 4% in 2025 to $59.6 billion (US dollars), a return to growth. The UK held 18% of global sales, about $10.5 billion, up 2%, second only to the US at 44%.
London is still second, but it now shares October with Paris. Art Basel Paris opens to the public at the Grand Palais from 23 to 25 October, and some dealers were open about where the biggest buyers were heading. “The serious money is going to Paris,” one adviser said. Others said the two cities work together, and buyers from the Gulf and India were especially visible in London. Both can be true at once. In my experience, most things said at a drinks reception are.
What I Took Home
For more than twenty years I worked in HR across banking, investment banking and insurance, and one number always told me more about the mood than any staff survey: how long people took to say yes. When candidates accepted an offer within a day, confidence was high. When they asked for the weekend, then another week, something had shifted, even if nobody said it out loud. I noticed, too, that the art in those offices was always chosen to look calm. We hang steady things on the wall when we want people to trust us.
Frieze felt like a slow yes. The money is there, and it is spending. It simply wants more time. Carry that into any market you watch: houses, jobs or your own business. Look past the record price and watch the speed of the decision; a market where people still buy but take longer is not collapsing. It is thinking. Earlier this month, superyachts in Monaco reminded us to read the running costs behind a big purchase. London adds the clock.
What to Watch Next
Art Basel Paris, with its first previews from 20 October and public days from 23 to 25 October, will show whether the biggest buyers really did save themselves for France. After that come the major November auctions in New York. If decisions speed up there, confidence is returning. If reserves stay reserves, the careful mood has further to run.
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This is editorial commentary for information and education only. It is not financial, investment or professional advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any investment. The Jacqueline Brand is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and past performance is not a guide to future returns. Figures were correct at the time of publication. Always do your own research and consider speaking to a regulated adviser.
