The galleries, auction houses, artists, and art world access points that define the summit of the global contemporary art market â ranked by cultural authority and collector significance.
The Astra Luxury Index ranks the world's most extraordinary offerings by Astra Score â a proprietary 10-point scale assessing provenance, exclusivity, craftsmanship, experience quality, and global influence. Updated annually. Only those that reach the celestial tier earn a place on this list.
| # | Name | Type / Base | Description | Astra Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gagosian Gallery |
New York / Global | 19 spaces on four continents; Richter, Koons, Serra, Hirst â the roster defines the market | 9.8 / 10 |
| 2 | Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale Auction House |
New York / London | The world's most watched sales event; $500M+ evenings; the arbiter of contemporary value | 9.7 / 10 |
| 3 | Christie's Impressionist & Modern Auction House |
London / New York | Monet, Picasso, Klimt â the historical blue-chip market at its most authoritative | 9.7 / 10 |
| 4 | Hauser & Wirth Gallery |
Zurich / Global | Philip Guston, Louise Bourgeois, Mark Bradford â the institutional gallery as cultural institution | 9.6 / 10 |
| 5 | David Zwirner Gallery |
New York / Global | Gerhard Richter's exclusive representative; Neo Rauch, Yayoi Kusama â breadth and depth | 9.6 / 10 |
| 6 | Pace Gallery Gallery |
New York / Seoul | Agnes Martin, Jean Dubuffet, Alex Katz â seven decades of primary market leadership | 9.5 / 10 |
| 7 | White Cube Gallery |
London / Global | Damien Hirst's original home; Georg Baselitz, Theaster Gates â the London establishment | 9.4 / 10 |
| 8 | Yayoi Kusama Artist |
Tokyo | Infinity Rooms as cultural phenomenon; the highest-profile living female artist in the world | 9.4 / 10 |
| 9 | Jeff Koons Artist |
New York | Balloon Dog (Orange) at $58.4M; the apex of American Pop luxury; LVMH partnership | 9.3 / 10 |
| 10 | Damien Hirst Artist |
London | YBA titan; spin paintings, spot series, and Natural History cabinet as 90s art-market epoch | 9.3 / 10 |
| 11 | Basquiat Estate Estate / Foundation |
New York | Jean-Michel Basquiat works now regularly exceeding $100M; the most valuable estate in contemporary art | 9.2 / 10 |
| 12 | Phillips Photographs Sale Auction House |
New York / London | The definitive photography auction; Gursky, Cindy Sherman, Andreas prints at record prices | 9.1 / 10 |
| 13 | Art Basel VIP Preview Art Fair |
Basel / Miami / Hong Kong | The world's premier art fair; VIP preview access is the collector's essential annual calendar entry | 9.1 / 10 |
| 14 | Banksy Artist |
Anonymous / Global | Street art's crossover to blue-chip; Girl with Balloon self-destructs at auction; the ultimate market disruptor | 9.0 / 10 |
| 15 | Takashi Murakami Artist |
Tokyo | Superflat as global aesthetic; Louis Vuitton collaboration redefining art-commerce; Kaikai Kiki gallery | 9.0 / 10 |
| 16 | Frieze Masters Art Fair |
London | The historical counterpart to Frieze London; antiquities to 20th-century works under one tent | 8.9 / 10 |
| 17 | Marlborough Gallery Gallery |
New York / Madrid | Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud â the London School's institutional home since 1946 | 8.9 / 10 |
| 18 | Kehinde Wiley Artist |
New York | Obama's official portrait; appropriating Old Masters for Black narratives; market firmly established | 8.8 / 10 |
| 19 | KAWS Artist |
New York | Companion figures at the junction of streetwear and fine art; Sotheby's Hong Kong records | 8.8 / 10 |
| 20 | Jenny Saville Artist |
Oxford, UK | The most expensive living female artist (post-Freud); figurative painting at its most visceral | 8.7 / 10 |