Frieze London and Frieze Masters brought their 2026 editions to a close in Regent's Park on 18 October with what organisers described as a confident week for the London market. Across the five fair days, the two events drew 95,000 visitors from 108 countries and regions, alongside delegates from a record 426 institutions in 51 countries. Attendance from India and China more than doubled compared with 2025, with growth also reported from Hong Kong, Korea, the UAE, Brazil, the United States, Canada, Germany and France.

The largest disclosed transaction of the week came at Frieze Masters, where Hauser & Wirth sold Jan Brueghel the Elder's Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase (c.1607-08) for around £5 million. Elsewhere in the Masters tent, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro each sold paintings by Alice Neel at between $1.6 million and $1.8 million, one going to a major museum. Piano Nobile placed a major Henry Moore at about £1 million, while Vito Schnabel Gallery sold George Condo's Call Me Now for $925,000.

At Frieze London, the contemporary fair's 24th edition, David Zwirner placed a new Michaël Borremans painting at $1.5 million and a Dana Schutz at $900,000. Hauser & Wirth sold Avery Singer's Solver (v.3) for $800,000; Thaddaeus Ropac placed Martha Jungwirth's Untitled (Berggasse 19) at €560,000 and Antony Gormley's Aside at £500,000. White Cube sold eleven works by Ilana Savdie, including The Harbingers to a museum for $325,000, Pace sold out its entire booth of new paintings by Marina Perez Simão, and Xavier Hufkens placed a historic Richard Serra work on paper for $750,000.

Strength ran well beyond the headline prices. In the Focus section for younger galleries, Gianni Manhattan, a.SQUIRE, Harlesden High Street, Bukia Vakhania and Xxijra Hii all reported sold-out presentations. Museum buying was broad: the Frieze Tate Fund acquired works by Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Luis Fernando Zapata, while new initiatives including the Dasha Shenkman Focus Fund and a fund from the Women's Art Collection and the Mougins Museum supported acquisitions of work by women artists for British public collections. Galleries also reported growing demand from Asia, West Asia, North Africa and South Asia — South Asian highlights included a world record for Biren De at Aina Gallery — suggesting London's pulling power for collectors, museums and galleries remains considerable.