Santa Fe, a city with more than 250 art galleries and dealers, long has traced much of its economic vitality — and its identity — to its visual arts scene.
Forbes magazine labeled it the third-largest art market in the country, behind only New York City and San Francisco, in a February 2024 report — a designation repeated often by a variety of media outlets, including CNN.
Travel + Leisure named it the seventh-best city in the world for art lovers in 2022, ahead of destinations such as Seattle, Berlin and Milan.
A man walks his dog past Cruz Gallery on Canyon Road on Wednesday. The gallery, run by Richard Campiglio, has a sign advertising its 25 years of business. Owners of galleries on the famed street say the decentralization of the art market in the city has led to less traffic in the area. “There was a time in the ’80s and ’90s when Santa Fe was such a hot destination, anybody and everybody could get into and sell stuff,” said Ivan Barnett, the former longtime creative director of Patina Gallery in Santa Fe. “That’s changed.”
Maggie Younis, visiting from Indiana, and painter Kirk Buchanan browse through prints outside Canyon Road’s Art Mozaik on Wednesday. Randy Randall, executive director of Tourism Santa Fe, said the city is seeing record tourism numbers, even if some gallerists are dissatisfied with the market. “Do they sell enough art? I don’t think you’ll ever find that they do,” he said, chuckling.
Large ceramic faces made by artist James Tyler are on display outside Nuart Gallery on Wednesday. Randall said one of Santa Fe’s strengths as an art market is in its variety, instead of being regarded as the capital of a particular genre.
Pablo Perez, co-owner of the Susan Eddings Perez Gallery, adjusts a painting made by his wife, Susan Eddings Perez, on Wednesday. Artists say they’ve had to increase the asking price for their work in recent years as the cost of almost everything — including paint — has escalated. “You have to add in that cost. I kind of raise my prices every year,” said Comanche painter Nocona Burgess, noting a jar of paint that cost $6.99 a few years ago now goes for $15.99.
Travelers browse through photos at the Edition ONE Gallery on Canyon Road on Wednesday. The election of President Donald Trump and the priorities and policies of his administration have many Santa Fe gallery owners fearful his tariffs and funding cuts for arts organizations and government agencies could have a strong negative effect on the art scene nationwide or, worse yet, trigger a recession.
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