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American Art Galleries: The Lethal Summer

By Emmanuel Grandjean09 septembre 2025

In the United States, the closure of several emblematic galleries between July and August has sent shockwaves through the art world. It marks the end of years of euphoria when gallerists, under pressure from a highly speculative market, spent without restraint.

The chain reaction of iconic galleries closing down reveals the collapse of an art market that has become overly speculative and expensive. The legendary Blum Gallery in Los Angeles (above) was forced to close its doors (Blum)

We were suffocating under overheads, which is quite typical. Rent, shipping, fairs... all these costs keep rising, while revenues are plummeting

Olivier Babin, artist and founder of the Clearing Gallery in New York

It can be said that this summer was deadly for the art market, especially in America. The turmoil peaked in August, when gallery closure announcements followed one another almost daily. In Los Angeles, Blum and Tanya Bonakdar declared they were shutting their doors. Meanwhile in New York, Venus on Manhattan and Clearing announced they were ceasing activities, while Kasmin underwent a profound restructuring under a new name. These were not small galleries collapsing under the difficulties of the contemporary art market, but well-established institutions—sometimes with more than 30 years of history—whose work shaped the art of the 2000s, and who nevertheless had no choice but to throw in the towel.

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A Convergence of Factors Speeding Closures

The difficult thing is that this crisis seems to be settling in, unlike the one in 2008, when the market quickly recovered. We must therefore adapt, be cautious and limit our expenses

Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva gallery owner

Japanese author Haruki Murakami, an iconic figure at Blum, has left the gallery after 25 years of collaboration (Fondation Louis Vuitton)

A convergence of factors explains this sudden hemorrhage, with runaway operating costs at the tip of the iceberg. Buoyed by the booming market of the 2010s, and fueled by cash freed up after COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, some dealers decided to multiply their spaces worldwide. Tim Blum, cofounder with Jeff Poe of the gallery that bore his name, added to his Los Angeles address by opening outposts in New York and Tokyo, employing some fifty staff to represent his roster of about sixty artists. Among them were Japanese stars Yoshimoto Nara and Takashi Murakami, whom Blum helped bring to prominence outside Japan, before they became megastars.

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