Why Frieze London & Masters Matters: The Fairs Shaping the Future of Art

Frieze London and Frieze Masters closed on Sunday, 19 October with the sense of art pushing outward—ancient marble beside new media, medieval vellum meeting moving image, pigment pitched against light. For five days the twin fairs drew galleries, artists, collectors, curators and institutions from 108 countries into a city-wide rhythm of exhibitions, talks and private viewings. The result reinforced London’s place as a cultural capital and vital market hub, and underlined art’s ability to generate dialogue and exchange.

Frieze began in 1991 with frieze magazine and now encompasses seven major fairs across Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul, along with publications and a significant digital footprint. In London this year the curated sections acted as lenses. Focus centred emerging practices. Echoes in the Present connected contemporary voices to deeper histories. Spotlight at Frieze Masters reappraised overlooked trajectories. Studio invited close reading of process. Reflections turned objects into carriers of memory and taste. Institutional acquisitions followed, ensuring curatorial ideas travelled into public collections.

Attendance reached 90,000, with record turnouts from museum groups and international collectors who flew in for the week. Among the figures visible in the aisles were Madonna, Mick Jagger, Rick Owens, Lauren Halsey, Leonardo DiCaprio, David Hockney, Sarah Snook, Tessa Thomson, Arthur Jafa, Nick Cave, Helena Bonham-Carter, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Bryan Cranston, Claudia Schiffer, Antony Gormley and Tadáskía. The opening hours set the tone: sharp conversations, active energy and serious buying from early-career presentations in Focus to blue-chip works at Frieze Masters.

Deutsche Bank extended its global partnership with Frieze and presented multidisciplinary artist Noémie Goudal in its lounges. Her photographs, films, sculptures and performances stage illusionistic interventions in the landscape to probe geological time. Eva Langret, Director of EMEA Frieze, noted a strong sense of momentum and the presence of major acquisition funds bringing new works into public collections. Emanuela Tarizzo, Director of Frieze Masters, pointed to breadth—ancient and historical material shown with conviction alongside twentieth-century highlights—matched by depth of engagement from collectors and institutions. From Deutsche Bank, Claudio de Sanctis emphasised the quality of access to leading gallerists and artists, while Britta Färber highlighted Goudal’s presentation and the bank’s earlier acquisitions from 2022 now on view in its new UK headquarters.

Sales were emphatic across both fairs. Gagosian sold out its Lauren Halsey solo in the opening hours. At Frieze Masters, Hauser & Wirth placed a Gabriele Münter for CHF 2,400,000, a René Magritte for $1,600,000, a Paul Klee for €1,450,000, a Marcel Duchamp for $1,350,000, an Alina Szapocznikow for $1,200,000 and a Jack Whitten for $750,000, while also placing works by Louise Bourgeois, Man Ray, Alberto Giacometti, Meret Oppenheim, Francis Picabia, Sonia Delaunay, Hans Arp and Hans Emmenegger. At Frieze London the gallery sold an Ellen Gallagher for $950,000 and an Avery Singer for $800,000; paintings by Henry Taylor and Keith Tyson for $300,000 each; a George Rouy for $275,000; an Angel Otero for $285,000; a Lee Bul for $260,000; a Takesada Matsutani for $250,000; George Condo’s Head Composition (2025) for $200,000 to a French private collection; Cindy Sherman’s Untitled #650 (2023) for $200,000; an Anj Smith for $170,000; and a Lorna Simpson for $150,000.

At Masters, Vito Schnabel Gallery placed a Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol painting for $6,000,000, a Julian Schnabel for $385,000, two Ron Gorchov works for $350,000 and $125,000, a Man Ray watercolour for $350,000, a Francis Picabia for $275,000 and a George Condo for $85,000. Waddington Custot sold a Pierre Soulages for £1,350,000, two large Barry Flanagan bronzes for $1,300,000 and £360,000, a Eugène Boudin for £390,000 and three Jean Dubuffet works on paper at £14,000 apiece. Robilant+Voena placed three Lucio Fontanas at €1,600,000, €895,000 and €200,000.

David Zwirner reported multiple sales at Frieze London: a Chris Ofili for $700,000, a Steven Shearer for $550,000, a Victor Man, two Lucas Arruda paintings in the $320,000–$350,000 range, an Elizabeth Peyton work on paper for $300,000, a Lisa Yuskavage work on paper for $180,000, two Wolfgang Tillmans works in the $115,000–$250,000 range, three Kerry James Marshall works on paper for $65,000 each, two Christopher Williams works in the $45,000–$50,000 range, two Huma Bhabha works on paper for $45,000 each, a Sosa Joseph painting for $35,000 and four Frank Walter paintings for $18,000 each. White Cube placed an Antony Gormley for £850,000; two Tracey Emin works for £425,000 and £95,000; a Shao Fan ink on rice paper for $350,000; two Cai Guo-Qiang works for $280,000 and $195,000; nine Marguerite Humeau works between £40,000 and £200,000; a Howardena Pindell for $150,000; two Sara Flores canvases for $70,000–$115,000; a Harland Miller work on paper for £120,000; and a Tunji Adeniyi-Jones painting for $90,000.

Pace Gallery sold eight works from its William Monk solo at Frieze London in the $30,000–$295,000 range. At Frieze Masters the gallery placed six Peter Hujar backstage portraits from 1970s and 1980s New York in the $25,000–$45,000 range. Lisson Gallery sold a monumental Otobong Nkanga tapestry for $600,000 and a Ryan Gander sculpture for £85,000. Sprüth Magers placed a George Condo for $600,000 to a European collection, a Gala Porras-Kim for $100,000, works by Henni Alftan and Rosemarie Trockel to European and US collections, multiple Gary Hume works for $90,000 each, as well as works by John Baldessari, Pamela Rosenkranz and 21 works by Marcel Van Eeden.

Further transactions moved briskly. Lehmann Maupin sold more than fifteen works by Do Ho Suh. Karma placed a Manoucher Yektai for $475,000, a Reggie Burrows Hodges for $350,000, a Gertrude Abercrombie for $225,000 and works by Ann Craven and Jane Dickson for $75,000 each. James Cohan sold two Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian works for $650,000 and $300,000, a Josiah Mcelheny for $185,000 and paintings by Naudline Pierre and Eamon Ore-Giron in the $65,000–$120,000 and $75,000–$100,000 ranges. Tina Kim Gallery placed a Ha Chong-Hyun for $550,000 and a Kim Tschang Yeul for $300,000, two Kibong Rhee works for $100,000 and $80,000, a Suki Seokyeong Kang multimedia work for $75,000 and a Lee ShinJa textile for $70,000. Kukje Gallery sold three Ha Chong-Hyun paintings between $230,000 and $468,000, a Kibong Rhee between $90,000 and $108,000, a Julian Opie for £65,000–£78,000 and two Kyungah Ham works between $35,000 and $72,000.

Olney Gleason placed a Robert Indiana for $200,000, an Ali Banisadr oil on linen for $95,000 and a Diana Al-Hadid for $90,000. Stephen Friedman Gallery saw strong demand for Sarah Ball with sales to major UK museums between £15,000 and £150,000. Nature Morte sold a Subodh Gupta painting for €200,000. Timothy Taylor sold out its Daniel Crews-Chubb presentation, placing seven paintings at £70,000–£95,000 and two sculptures at £65,000 each. Peter Blum Gallery sold five Rebecca Ward paintings for a total of $125,000. Carl Freedman Gallery placed two Billy Childish works at £70,000 and £40,000. i8 Gallery sold an Alicja Kwade for $75,000. Southern Guild sold a Zizipho Poswa for $90,000, five Zanele Muholi works between $22,000 and $90,000 and three Roméo Mivekannin works between $50,000 and $70,000. Alison Jacques sold throughout the week between $10,000 and $100,000, with strong interest in Gina Kuschke and a museum acquisition. Kalfayan Galleries sold widely between €4,000 and €80,000. Hales placed several works including a Hew Locke between £25,000 and £75,000. Galerie Nordenhake sold four Spencer Finch works totaling $280,000 and a Meuser for £50,000.

Entrance stands set the early mood. Soft Opening sold 12 Ebun Sodipo works priced at £22,000 and under. The Pit nearly sold out its booth, placing all works by Los Angeles–based Jennifer King and multiple pieces by Maryam Yousef with buyers from the US and UK. At Frieze Masters, Ben Brown Fine Arts placed a Lucio Fontana and a work by Claude Lalanne and François-Xavier Lalanne between $300,000 and $800,000. Salon 94 and Karma placed Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori’s Dibirdibi Country for $800,000. Ben Hunter sold a Frank Auerbach painting around £750,000 and a Victor Pasmore relief around £220,000. Larkin Erdmann placed a Marcel Duchamp for €650,000, an Alberto Giacometti for €190,000, an Antonio Calderara for €75,000 and an Alighiero Boetti for €85,000. Annely Juda Fine Art placed a Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart painting for £400,000. Schoelkopf Gallery sold numerous Andrew Wyeth works between $40,000 and $395,000.

Historicism read as timely. Maruani Mercier placed works by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and Francis Picabia between €200,000 and €300,000. Johnny Van Haeften placed three Old Masters including Frans Francken the Younger’s The Passion of Christ around £300,000. Galerie Minsky sold across €15,000–€250,000. Piano Nobile placed Walter Sickert’s Le Journal for £250,000, a Grayson Perry glazed earthenware pot for £225,000, a Michael Andrews around £200,000 and works by Paula Rego, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews and Barbara Hepworth, including one at a seven-figure level. David Aaron placed a Sabre Cat “Nimravidae” skeleton, circa 33.7 to 23.8 million years old, for a significant six-figure sum and a triceratops skull for £650,000. Galerie Léage sold a François Mondon-stamped chest of drawers circa 1770 for €300,000–€500,000 and a pair of Gustavian armchairs between €50,000 and €100,000. Rupert Wace recorded the gallery’s best opening day at Frieze Masters with several six-figure sales. Carlton Rochell Asian Art placed a Terracotta Head of a Goddess (circa 6th century) with an asking price of $250,000. Elliot Davies Fine Art sold a 4th-century BC Anthemion Stele for £85,000. Rasti Fine Art placed a chicken bone jade sculpture for approximately $50,000 and Kallos Gallery sold an ancient Egyptian sculpture for approximately £20,000.

Momentum remained high elsewhere. D’Lan Contemporary sold six works by Makinti Napanangka at $39,000–$182,000 and three by Naata Nungurrayi at $91,000–$182,000, records for both artists. DAG sold several J. Sultan Ali works for $91,000. Harper’s placed two Iria Leino works for $60,000 and $68,000. Charles Ede reported almost 40 sales up to £75,000. Colnaghi and Elliott Fine Art sold 14 works including a Mollie Faustman painting around £50,000. Bastian Gallery sold a Cy Twombly photograph for €40,000. Inman Gallery placed two Dorothy Antoinette LaSelle paintings for $75,000 and $85,000—one to a private European buyer and one to an American institution.

The curated engines continued to drive reappraisal. In Spotlight at Frieze Masters, Lawrie Shabibi reported strong sales, including a museum acquisition in Asia of Mona Saudi’s Mother/Earth (1981) for $280,000, a Jordanian limestone sculpture for $168,000 and an Iranian travertine work for $70,000. Richard Saltoun sold two Bertina Lopes works for £65,000–£85,000. Berry Campbell sold 12 works in its Janice Biala solo between $18,000 and $55,000. 10 A.M. ART sold five Marina Apollonio works between €8,500 and €32,000. In Studio at Masters, Stephen Friedman sold out new Anne Rothenstein paintings at £40,000–£75,000 and collages at £7,000–£15,000. Vadehra Art Gallery placed all new Anju Dodiya paintings at $50,000. In Reflections, AGO Projects sold four works around $30,000, and Vagabond Antiques placed Broccatello di Siena marble tiles for £24,000 and a set of Sorcerers Stones for £14,500.

Focus at Frieze London ran hot. El Apartamento sold out its presentation of Ariamna Contino and Alex Hernández on opening day at $6,000–$55,000. Brunette Coleman sold out its Emma Rose Schwarz solo at £7,000–£25,000. Ginny on Frederick and King’s Leap sold out their solos by Alex Margo Arden and Michelle Uckotter. Harlesden High Street sold out its Toby Cato booth between £6,000 and £19,000. Gathering placed most Christelle Oyiri works between £2,000 and £20,000. Bombon sold three Lara Fluxà sculptures for €7,000–€8,000. Public Gallery sold seven Xin Liu works for £5,000–£15,000; two entered institutions, including The Twins of One Body (2025). Gypsum sold two hand-stitched tapestries by Marianne Fahmy at €15,000 each to London- and Turkey-based collections. Galerie Eli Kerr placed most Marlon Kroll works between £3,000 and £7,000. Hot Wheels sold most of its booth at £16,000 per work. Cylinder placed a Rim Park mixed-media sculpture for $13,600.

Echoes in the Present delivered further activity. Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel sold a significant number of Tadáskía works at $45,000 each. Nara Roesler placed five works by Alberto Pitta at $10,000–$20,000. Tafeta placed five drawings by Bunmi Agusto with Dutch collectors of contemporary African art and a London-based Nigerian buyer at £4,000 and £12,000. Galerie Atiss Dakar sold a wooden sculpture and a work on paper by Serigne Mbaye Camara for $9,000 each. Artist-to-Artist remained a lightning rod: kurimanzutto sold out its Ana Segovia booth at $25,000–$60,000; Company Gallery sold out its Katherine Hubbard presentation; Gallery Maskara placed T. Venkanna works between £4,000 and £120,000, including institutional placements with Yan Du Projects.

Philanthropy accompanied the commerce. The Gallery Climate Coalition’s “10% Of” fundraising initiative launched with placements including Hauser & Wirth’s Allison Katz for $45,000 and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery’s Nengi Omuku for $40,000. Community access remained central with more than 1,000 complimentary tickets for non-profits, schools, educational groups and community networks. Proceeds from bag-drop donations were shared among Gallery Climate Coalition, Artbox and Koestler Arts.

Multiple prizes and acquisitions shaped the week. The Frieze Tate Fund of £150,000 enabled acquisitions of works by Lubna Chowdhary (Jhaveri Contemporary) and Barbara Walker (Victoria Miro), and a Madge Gill from The Museum of Everything entered Tate as a promised gift from Lance Uggla. The Arts Council Collection acquired works by Alex Margo Arden from Ginny on Frederick, Vanessa Raw from Carl Freedman Gallery, Liorah Tchiprout from Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, Sarah Ball from Stephen Friedman Gallery and Olu Ogunnaike from Hollybush Gardens. The Contemporary Arts Society Collections Fund acquired significant works by Shaqúelle Whyte and Michael Landy for the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Spirit Now London supported the National Portrait Gallery with acquisitions of portraits or self-portraits by women artists, including Stella Snead at Richard Saltoun and Madge Gill at The Gallery of Everything. Bogdan Ablozhnyy, showing in Focus with SQUIRE, received the Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Prize. Alex Margo Arden received the inaugural Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation Prize. The Frieze London Stand Prize went to Modern Art, with special mentions for Taka Ishii and Project 88. Daiga Grantina, exhibiting with Emalin, received the FLUXUS-CPGA Prize supporting French talent internationally.

The curatorial infrastructure extended beyond the aisles. The Frieze Masters Art Fund Curator Programme with The National Gallery offered fully funded places for seven international and eleven UK-based museum curators. The Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curators Fellowship, in its fifth edition, provided a 12-month paid placement for early-career Black and global majority heritage curators; this year MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, will receive a £45,000 grant covering salary, travel and research for a fellow to be announced in November. The Breeze Curator Travel Grant 2025, with the Instituto Guimarães Rosa and the Embassy of Brazil in London, supported five Brazil-based curators as part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025–26. CVAN and London Gallery Weekend convened 30 contemporary art curators across England, with 20 spaces allocated to regional voices.

Attendance stretched across the art world and into film, fashion and design. International collectors included Armando Abounce, Shane Ackroyd, Mohammed Afkhami, Kyveli Alexiou, León Amitai, Tiqui Atencio, Carol Asscher, Laurent Asscher, Magda Baltoyanni, Allison Berg, Raimund Berthold, Ivor Braka, Eli Bronfman, Anastasia Bukhman, Lady Sarah Chatto, Marisa Chearavanont, Cherry Cheng, Geraldine Chung, Wilfried Cooreman, Yannicke Cooreman, Theo Danjuma, Harry David, Lana David, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Ago Demirdjian, Pieter and Olga Dreesmann, Yan Du, George Economou, Paul Ettlinger, Bill Fisher, Bob Fisher, Randi Fisher, Wendy Fisher, Yassmin Ghandehari, Heloisa Genish, Giancarlo Giammetti, Princess Nina of Greece, Laura de Gunzburg, Martin Hatebur, Katrin Henkel, Eva Hsieh, Dakis Joannou, Chandra Johnson, Peter Kahng, Phillip Keir, Kent Kelley, Donghwan Koh, Lina Lazaar, Christian Levett, Agnes Lew, Miyoung Lee, Marc J. Lee, Jeff Magid, Fatima Maleki, Eskandar Maleki, Patricia Marshall, John Morace, Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis, Lady Alison Myners, Hélène Nguyen-Ban, Louis Norval, Takeo Obayashi, Batia Ofer, Countess Christine d’Ornano, Midge Palley, Will Palley, Irene Panagopoulos, Rhea Papanikolaou, Paul Pariser, Erin Leider-Pariser, Emilie de Pauw, Alexander Petalas, Catherine Petitgas, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Eugenio Re Rebaudengo, Olga Re Rebaudengo, Michelle and Jason Rubbell, Paul Ruddock, Muriel and Freddie Salem, Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, Sam Schwartz, Anastasia Sgoumpopoulou, Junsub Shim, Uli Sigg, Neil Simkins, Julia Sorkin, Maria Sukkar, Timothy Tan, Natalia Tsavliris, Ninetta Vafia, Yvonne Force Villareal, Cathy Wills and Cherry Xu.

Artists present included Campbell Addy, Bunmi Agusto, Alex Margo Arden, Glenn Brown, Nicholas Byrne, Serigne Mbaye Camara, Michael Craig-Martin, Dorothy Cross, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Es Devlin, Diambe, Rhea Dillon, Anju Dodiya, Dame Tracey Emin, Sam Falls, Mélinda Fourn, Ryan Gander, Antony Gormley, Sunil Gupta, Samia Halaby, Lauren Halsey, Anthea Hamilton, Alex Hank, Mona Hatoum, David Hockney, Gary Hume, Arthur Jafa, Rachel Jones, Sanya Kantarovsky, Jasleen Kaur, Lilianne Kiame, Kimsooja, Michael Landy, Lin Li, Hew Locke, Naomi Lulendo, Lily McMenamy, Lindsey Mendick, Mariko Mori, Aline Motta, Oscar Murillo, Cassi Namoda, Nicolas Party, Vicken Parsons, Grayson Perry, Alberto Pitta, Gala Porras-Kim, Sandra Poulson, Thomas J Price, R. H. Quaytman, Anne Rothenstein, Zineb Sedira, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, David Shrigley, Daniel Silver, Marianna Simnett, Tadáskía, Barbara Walker, Gillian Wearing and Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Additional attendees from the creative and entertainment industries included Marisa Abela, David Albert, Lily Allen, Sophie Ashby, Zawe Ashton, Dennis Basso, Susan Bender Whitfield, Raimund Berthold, Ozwald Boateng, Helena Bonham Carter, James Blunt, Francis Bourgeois, Amanda Brooks, Matthew Brown, Edie Campbell, Nick Cave, Alva Claire, Alessandro Codognato, James Corbin, Cora Corré, Bryan Cranston, Emma Dabiri, Nicholas Daley, Giles Deacon, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Honey Dijon, Joe Donnelly, Jamie Dornan, Mickey Down, Tania Fares, Nicole Farhi, Christy Ferer, Adot Gak, Lennon Gallagher, Martino Gamper, Thomas Gibson, Ellie Goulding, Nick Grimshaw, Jack Guinness, Paul Hameline, Ellis Howard, Roksanda Ilinčić, Mick Jagger, Karan Johar, Stephen Jones OBE, Princess Julia, Christopher Kane, Patsy Kensit, Gauri Khan, Ezra Koenig, Bernard Lagrange, Sarah Lancashire, Supriya Lele, Heewon Lee, Alexander Lewis, Adam Lippes, David Lindley, John Lithgow, Andrew Lincoln, Archie Madekwe, Madonna, Thebe Magugu, Niamh McCormack, Suzy Menkes, Camille Miceli, John Morace, David Netto, Lily Newmark, Rick Owens, Ananya Panday, Philippa Perry, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Janet Street-Porter, Isobel Richmond, Sampha, Rolf Sachs, Claudia Schiffer, Rufus Sewell, Keri Selig, Raf Simons, Mike Skinner, Sarah Snook, Rejjie Snow, Thomas Straker, Neil Tennant, Mario Testino, Emma Thompson, Tessa Thompson, Russell Tovey, Thomas Tuchel, Hikaru Utada, Chris Walker, Rachel Weisz, Lucy Williams and Bethan Laura Wood. Political and royal attendees included Albert II, Prince of Monaco, Her Excellency Evelyne Genta, Henry Allsopp, 1st Baron Hindlip DL, Charles Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, Baroness Thangam Debbonaire, Caroline Dineage MP, Charles Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond, Emma Thynn, Marchioness of Bath, Antonio Patriota, Brazil’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Warren Stephens, the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Institutional presence was equally strong. Representatives came from more than 400 groups across 47 countries, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Art Jameel, The J. Paul Getty Museum, LACMA, Louvre Abu Dhabi, M+, MACBA Barcelona, The Menil Collection, Museo Jumex, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, MoMA, MONA, the National Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Pinault Collection, the Rijksmuseum, the Sharjah Art Foundation, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Qatar Museums Authority, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Frick Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art, Yuz Museum and Zeitz MOCAA.

By week’s end, London felt newly polished by art at every register. Ancient stone and medieval parchment conversed with contemporary pigment and pixels. Private ambitions aligned with public missions. The market spoke in numbers; the city answered with looking, thinking and the steady work of placing the right piece in the right room.