Buying art can be intimidating. Salespeople are unlikely to greet you at the gallery door, and prices are rarely posted on the walls. Bafflingly, having enough money does not even guarantee you access to the artwork you want. Galleries are more likely to accept an offer from an established collector than from an unknown buyer, even if the unknown buyer gets there first and has deeper pockets, because they want to sell to people who can burnish the reputation of the artists they represent.
There is, however, one place in the art world where the calculus is far simpler and the person willing to pay the most always wins: the auction house. There, “you don’t have to audition for the privilege of buying something,” says Alex Glauber, the president of the Association of Professional Art Advisers. At auction, you are generally vying for a work of art that has been previously owned (a category known as the secondary market) rather than acquiring it from a gallery, where it arrived fresh from the artist’s studio (the primary market).
Auctions have their own unique rituals, rhythms and hierarchies. The biggest and best-known auction houses — nicknamed the Big Three — are Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. Together, these international companies sold more than $4 billion worth of art in 2024. Their highest-profile, highest-value sales take place each November and May in New York. This season, the offerings include a trove worth an estimated $400 million from the estate of the cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder.
Contrary to popular belief, though, you don’t have to be a billionaire — or even a millionaire — to buy quality art at auction. “Some of the most interesting conversations I’ve had with collectors are for works under $5,000,” says Sara Friedlander, a chairman of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s. Ahead of the marquee November auctions, we asked experts to provide practical advice on how to navigate this oft-misunderstood market.
Figure Out What’s Available
Start by familiarizing yourself with the auction landscape and calendar. Sotheby’s and Christie’s offer the widest array of objects at the widest range of price points. But experts say that great works can also be found — and often come with less competition — at smaller houses like Wright, Rago, Swann, Freeman’s and Bonhams. Interested parties can sign up on most auction house websites, or an auction database like Artnet or ArtDAI, to get email alerts when an artist or category they’re interested in is coming up for sale. Every year in New York, there are two key series of sales for most major categories: old master auctions are usually held every February and May, for example, and photography sales are in October and April. And since there are auctions for these and other categories held at various times around the world, the odds are good that you’re never more than a couple of months away from a sale of whatever you desire.
Find the Right Time and Place for You
Multimillion-dollar paintings are typically sold in the evening; online-only day and afternoon auctions are where the deals can be found. Also, the marquee modern and contemporary art day sales in Paris (held in April and October) and London (held in June and October) are watched less closely than those in New York. “So much art is being offloaded, and things get overlooked,” Glauber says. Just remember: It’s the consignor, not the artist, who profits most when a work of contemporary art sells at auction. (Visual artists do not make residuals when their work is resold in the United States, although they may receive a nominal fee in other countries.) So if you want to support artists directly, it’s best to buy from a gallery, where the proceeds are usually split 50-50 between dealer and creator.
Take a Look in Person
For up to two weeks before almost any sale, auction houses display the works in preview exhibitions that are free and open to the public. Don’t miss them. The collector and art adviser Saara Pritchard once had her heart set on a watercolor by Alice Neel, only to find that “the texture of the paper was distracting to me” in person. “There’s often very little overlap” between what her clients are drawn to online and what they end up coveting after visiting a preview, she says.
Want an even closer look? Ask the specialist to take the object off the wall or out of the frame. Bring it into the sunlight or request a black light to see if there are any subtle repairs or flaws. If you can’t see the object in person, Pritchard recommends requesting videos, which she says are “harder to edit” and offer “a more dynamic sense of the work” than photos.
Do Your Homework
Consult an auction database (here, too, Artnet or ArtDAI are the main ones) to find out how much money similar objects — by the same artist, in the same medium or from the same time period — have sold for recently. Keep in mind that unique factors like an artwork’s ownership history (also known as provenance), exhibition history and condition can greatly affect its value. Advisers and specialists say that the biggest mistake rookie collectors make is failing to request a condition report — the art equivalent of a home inspection report — from the auction house ahead of a sale. (Most houses will provide one for every lot on request.) For higher-value works, Glauber suggests commissioning a third-party expert to produce an independent conservation report, which starts at around $1,000 and provides a more thorough examination than those done by the auction houses.
Don’t Overthink the Estimates
For every lot, auction houses offer an estimate, or an expected price range, based on comparable recent sales at auction and on the private market. The low end of the estimate can offer a rough sense of the price at which a seller is willing to part with a work (although that price, known as the reserve, can also be lower). Just don’t read too much into them. Even if your winning bid is within the estimated range, you’ll usually end up paying 20 to 30 percent more after adding the auction house’s fee, known as the buyer’s premium, which covers its costs. (Don’t forget taxes and shipping, either.) In other words, if you win a photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe on a $15,000 bid, expect to pay the auction house just over $19,000. Glauber prepares a spreadsheet for clients in advance of a sale so they can keep track of how much each incremental bid will really cost them.
Make Your Bid
You can’t just waltz into the salesroom and raise a paddle; you have to register with the auction house in advance for each sale, sometimes noting which lots you’re interested in. (You can do this as late as the day of the auction, but the purchase of larger-ticket items may require a credit check or bank verification to have happened further in advance.) Looking to get more value out of your dollar? David Galperin, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, suggests asking a specialist a day or two beforehand which lots may be quieter, meaning those in which fewer bidders have indicated interest. Bids can be placed before the sale, but Galperin recommends engaging in real time, whether online, in person or over the phone. (A specialist will call you before your desired lot comes up; in the auction room, you can see staff lined up at a phone bank, speaking to clients in hushed tones.) “Auctions are live events, and you never know what’s going to happen,” Galperin says. “You might have five people planning to bid and only one does.”
When it comes to bidding strategy, the best approach depends on your budget, according to Glauber. If you aren’t willing to pay much more than the low estimate, “establish your bid as quickly as possible.” If you have some flexibility, it’s wise to enter your first bid after the price has climbed and the action has begun to settle. Glauber often asks clients for permission to go one increment above their max bid, but no more. “People think that since other people are bidding, it must be great, so they keep going,” he says. It’s important to plan in advance what you consider a responsible amount to spend — and what is a little reckless.
Follow Up
If you do place the winning bid, you can collect your new acquisition from the auction house or arrange for shipment as soon as you pay your invoice. (Galperin recalls one client who was so eager to get his David Hockney that he had it taken off the wall and packed up before the auction was even over.) If you don’t win, you can reach out to a specialist about similar work that might be available from the private sales division or in an upcoming sale. The good news, Pritchard says, is that “there’s always more art to buy.”
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