The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report is marking its 10th anniversary in 2026. Researched and written by Dr. Clare McAndrew, the founder of Arts Economics, the report analyzes the global art market each year across key segments – including galleries and dealers, auction houses, and art fairs – alongside buyer behavior, global wealth changes, and shifting economic conditions. We asked McAndrew what has changed during her decade behind the scenes of the art market’s most comprehensive data-driven overview. This interview is presented in partnership with Global Lead Partner, UBS.

How has the Art Market Report evolved since its first edition and what major shifts have you observed over the past decade?

It has been a truly fascinating time to observe and record the market, with more changes having occurred in the past 20 years than possibly 100 years before that. The market has obviously grown a lot in size, and a big part of that has been its increasing global diversity. In the 1980s and 1990s, the vast majority of art sales were made in the US and Europe. But from the early 2000s onwards, the expansion in Asia – particularly the rapid growth of the Chinese market – really changed both the structure and the scale of the market. So today I’m measuring sales and activity across a much wider range of markets than I was 10 or 20 years ago.

The way sales are made has also shifted quite fundamentally. In the past, auction houses operated more like wholesalers to dealers, whereas now both auctions and galleries are active in direct and private sales. It has been amazing to watch and chart the rise of a much more event‑driven market, with major art fairs becoming key moments in the sales cycle and central to how many galleries do business. And more recently, particularly since the pandemic, there has been a big increase in e‑commerce.

What initially drew you to analyzing the art market and what continues to motivate you in this work?

Another part of the evolution has been the kinds of data we can access. While there have been improvements in the availability of data in some areas, and in the tools and metrics we have to collect and analyze it, a lot of the information that’s needed to properly measure the art market still sits in the private sphere. Because of that, a large share of the data in the report comes from original, primary research that I carry out each year through surveys, interviews, and other direct conversations with people working in the market. That does make the research more complex to compile, because trying to get an understanding of the context behind the numbers always requires a human element. But in many ways that’s also what makes it the most interesting and rewarding part of the work for me. Ultimately, good research isn’t just about the data – it’s also about asking the right questions.

The art trade needs and appreciates access to these industry‑wide statistics, whether to help it benchmark performance, encourage new buyers, or support the industry. The reports started out as a means to provide the trade with key industry stats it could use to inform stakeholders who needed answers on things like market size, employment, and economic impact. I’ve had some helpful feedback over the years from the auction houses, dealers, gallery associations, and others about the kind of information they really need, so we’re always trying to keep it relevant and useful.

If you could highlight one misconception people often have about the art market, what would it be?

I think one of the biggest is that you need to spend a lot of money to be involved in the art market, or to buy something really ‘good.’ This is perpetuated a bit by the fact that most or all of what the media reports on is the multimillion-dollar sums paid for a small number of really high-priced artists. New buyers are led to believe that the art market is out of their reach, and that you can only get a quality work of art if you have a budget of over USD 1 million, for example, when in fact there are still so many other, less-publicized artists and works available at much lower prices. It’s actually a really democratic market, with a place for so many different interests, tastes, and budgets. The reality is that, despite the amount of attention the very top of the market gets, most transactions and the day-to-day operations of most businesses in the art market happen at much lower prices – less than 0.5% of the transactions at fine art auctions last year were for prices over USD 1 million, while 95% were less than USD 50,000, including 77% for less than USD 5,000.