Since 2022, there has been near-constant talk of a soft art market, with the latest UBS Art Basel Report finding that global art sales contracted for the second consecutive year. And yet, it is perhaps a sign of strength—or at least confidence—that major galleries continue to expand. The latest example is Sadie Coles, a pillar of London’s contemporary art scene for nearly three decades. Coles announced in February that her gallery will open a new 6,000-square-foot London location in Mayfair, set to open this fall. And yet, according to recent UK filings, the gallery has been far from immune to the art market dip.
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In the filings, the gallery reported a steep 46 percent drop in revenue for 2024, falling from £52.3 million to £28.3 million, according to recent UK filings. Its pre-tax profits plunged 93 percent to just £400,000, down from £5.5 million the year prior. The downturn, Coles acknowledged in her director’s report, stemmed from a slowdown at the high end of the art market that “squeezed gross profit margins.”
But Coles is largely insulated from the art market’s downturn. The gallery carries no debt and, over the last five years, has reported a 20 percent increase in its total assets, which according to the filings is primarily stock holdings, but could also include real estate and inventory. In real terms, Coles saw assets grow from £23.9 million in 2019 to £28.8 million in 2024.
“Whilst tough, our business remains healthy,” Coles told ARTnews in an emailed statement. She called the downturn an “industry-wide contraction” and said it hadn’t affected the gallery’s expansion.
Coles, who opened her gallery in the 1990s, built her gallery’s foundation on shows for Sara Lucas, John Currin, and other now revered British and American artists of that generation. The gallery, which represents 50 artists total, has a roster that now includes other major names like Urs Fischer, Helen Marten, Martine Syms, and Jordan Wolfson. Last year Coles’s gallery was one of four spaces that exhibited Secondary, a video installation by Matthew Barney, whom she also represents.
The gallery has weathered volatility before, according to the filings. Profits slumped to £500,000 during the pandemic in 2020, then rebounded to £6.4 million in 2022. That year, turnover rose to £43 million, and, in 2023, climbed further to £51.7 million, despite a small dip in profitability. There was a brief period when Coles paused her participation in art fairs. Now, she’s back to participating in around seven to eight each year.
The gallery’s 2024 financial dip reflects a broader slowing effect for a generation of older contemporary art dealers. The recent UBS Art Basel report found that overall gallery sales declined 12 percent in 2024. Dealers at the highest transactional end were hit hardest: 64 percent of galleries with more than $10 million in annual turnover reported lower sales, compared to just 23 percent of galleries under $250,000. Still, nearly half of all respondents said 2024 sales exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
The stability of Coles’s business rests largely with the size of its assets, filings show. With the gallery’s assets having grown by 20 percent due to its investment strategy, opening the new London space is a viable option.
Coles considers last year’s slowdown a minor blip in the gallery’s growth plans. While profits declined year-over-year significantly in 2024, Coles told ARTnews that 2023’s result was unusually high because of several high-value sculpture commissions. With the upcoming expansion, she is betting that a diversified program and a group of established artists will continue to push the gallery through a short-term period of turbulence.
“We are excited to open our new gallery on Savile Row later this year. It’s providing increased exhibition spaces,” Coles said.
Meanwhile, Coles’s blue-chip peers have seen similar mixed results. As ARTnews reported in February, other major galleries with UK operations like Thaddaeus Ropac, Pace, and David Zwirner, and Lisson saw major fluctuations in turnover and profits year to year between 2019 and 2024. In those cases, increased costs for operations and labor cut into profits along with drops in revenue. Lisson, in particular, reported a nearly 30 percent drop in revenue from 2023 to 2024, from £96 million to £68.9 million.
But large galleries like these—like large corporations—are built to weather fluctuations in the market that might sink a mom-and-pop shop. After all, between 2023 and 2024, New York saw a wave of smaller galleries close.
