The question hanging over Frieze London was whether collectors would even show up, with the more glamorous Art Basel Paris opening the following week and advisors describing their clients as increasingly 'time-poor'. By the end of preview day, dealers were reporting a reassuring answer: sales at every level, and a market mood tilting brighter.

Big, colourful abstraction dominated demand. Gagosian sold all six of its Albert Oehlen paintings, each priced around €1.2 million. White Cube moved five paintings by Ilana Savdie at $110,000–175,000 alongside works on paper, while Pace reported selling 'nearly every' one of Marina Perez Simão's $250,000 abstractions. The headline sale came at Frieze Masters, where Hauser & Wirth agreed a deal of around £5 million for Jan Brueghel the Elder's 'Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase' (1607–1608) — shown next to a new Flora Yukhnovich painting — after the gallery's principals spent an unusual amount of the day in the Masters tent.

Dealers and advisors agree that buying behaviour has changed. 'Collectors are more price-sensitive, better informed and increasingly considered in what they buy,' advisor Lucy-Anne Garnett said, with market-data platforms making value easier to check. Dealer James Cope put it more bluntly: 'Collectors aren't going to fairs anymore. They are sending their advisor, or buying off a preview the week before.' His own response is The Invitational, a boutique hotel fair running alongside Frieze in Grosvenor Square.

The middle market held up too: a slim majority of reported first-day sales sat under £50,000, most of the rest between £50,000 and £250,000. Ella Fleck's 'training material (aria)' — an installation about OnlyFans chatter labour that won the Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Award — placed two editions with European institutional-level collectors at £14,000. Against four years of market decline, led now by a rebounding secondary market, the fair's numbers point to a broader recovery, however cautious primary galleries remain.