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Edited by Thomas | 23 September 2025
In 2021, a digital artwork ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ by Beeple sold for $69 million. It reframed the conversation around digital art and brought it into the cultural mainstream. Four years later, NFTs, AI-generated art and virtual galleries have moved beyond trend status, driving a new kind of art renaissance.
NFTs: Owning the future
What Beeple’s headline-grabbing sale really sold? Mainstream recognition for digital art. Auctioned by Christie’s as an NFT, the piece used blockchain tech to verify ownership, opening doors for artists and collectors everywhere.
After Beeple, the NFT market exploded, reaching $23.7 billion in sales at its peak in 2022. Even after stabilising at around $8.8 billion by 2024, NFTs have proven they're here to stay. Experts believe the next wave could make it even easier for independent artists to find new audiences, and earn from their work.
AI art: Collaborating with machines
If NFTs redefined ownership, AI is offering new tools for artists working with digital formats. Tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion have made AI accessible, helping artists explore new creative directions and processes. In 2025, Christie’s hosted its first AI-only auction, featuring works by Refik Anadol and Claire Silver – another sign that AI art is moving from the margins to the mainstream.
The AI art market could reach $40 billion by 2033, driven (speculatively) by artists experimenting with new tools and collectors embracing emerging formats.
Virtual galleries: Art at your fingertips
Museums went dark at the height of the pandemic, but access to art didn’t just suddenly disappear. It moved online where millions explored virtual exhibitions from their homes.
At Catawiki, we believe access should shape the future of collecting. Our platform brings together curated AI-generated and physical works, available to explore from anywhere. Each piece is reviewed by experts, so whether you're browsing or bidding, you’re engaging with art you can trust.
What does it mean to ‘own’ art now?
The way we experience and collect art is changing. NFTs, virtual exhibitions and new AI-generated formats are opening up space for more people to engage with art on their own terms. We’re making room for new perspectives, new collectors, and new ways to connect. Technology hasn’t taken the human touch out of art, it’s helped reveal new sides of it.
As Cyrille Coiffet of the Catawiki Art team puts it, “Ownership now comes in many forms, like a unique animation on the blockchain, a generative piece born from code or a virtual gallery you curate yourself. It’s a shift that challenges tradition but also opens up new ways to engage with art. For collectors looking to be part of something new, the possibilities are really exciting.”