A LOVE LETTER AND A FORECAST | THE BLACK FINE ART MARKET IN 2026

Artist Kevin Williams and Dontae T. Muse at the Pigmented Black Fine Art Faire. Muse, based in Newark, NJ, is the founder of Black Art Gallery Tour (BAG) Tour and Black art advocate.

by Dontae Muse

If I could condense my predictions for the Black art market heading into 2026 into one sentence, it might look like this: Black collectors will stop asking for permission from white markets and develop our own art spaces dedicated to our artists.

What’s unfolding isn’t a trend, a moment, or a spike in attention that will mysteriously disappear after the next auction season. When the world slowed down during quarantine and the atrocities we face as Black people were front and center for the country to see, Black people started to focus more on the positive side of being black. The beauty in us. And our art captures that beauty and tells our stories. Artists, collectors, curators, and cultural workers are finally speaking the same language, and that language is grounded in ownership, care, and narrative power. It feels more like a long-overdue alignment.

For years, Black artists were invited into the room only after the furniture was arranged. In 2026, we’re designing the floor plan. Sometimes we’re building entirely new houses.

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