The biggest surprises in the art world 2025

1. The Louvre Heist - “Art World Story of the Decade”

Arguably the most stunning and widely discussed event in the global art world was the October break-in at the Louvre, where thieves walked into the museum in broad daylight and made off with an astonishing collection of crown jewels, estimated at around $102 million worth of pieces. The scale, brazenness, and international attention made it one of the year’s biggest cultural shocks outside of the art market itself. 

2. The Met’s Unexpected Helene Schjerfbeck Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York surprised critics and the public alike with a major retrospective of Helene Schjerfbeck, a Finnish modernist painter long underrated in the mainstream art narrative. Its unexpected prominence at one of the world’s biggest museums sparked fresh scholarly and market interest. 

3. Art World Turbulence and Controversies

2025 wasn’t dull: major controversies rocked museums, auction houses, and institutions, spanning debates over governance, representation, and market priorities. These disputes, from governance shake-ups to curatorial clashes, fueled ongoing introspection about art world structures. 

4. Van Gogh Year Breaks Expectations

The centennial retrospectives and exhibitions around Van Gogh surpassed expectations, drawing record crowds and reshaping how even canonical figures can still deliver surprises in presentation and scholarship,

from thematic depth to institutional collaborations.