With the Help of Family Wealth and Instagram, Gen Z Is Spending Big in the Art Market

According to a new survey, high-net-worth 20-somethings are emerging as the most active members of the global art trade, outspending other generations by wide margins. Their habits are changing how the art world works

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

October 13, 2026 11:19 a.m.

A new survey about trends and participation in global art collecting has yielded a surprising finding: Wealthy members of Generation Z, defined by the report as those between the ages of 20 and 29, are now the art market’s biggest spenders.

According to the latest Survey of Global Collecting, which is jointly published by Art Basel and the bank UBS, high-net-worth Gen Z collectors outspent every other generation on fine art in 2025 and the first half of 2026. The margin wasn’t particularly close. Individual average spending by Gen Z during that 18-month span was more than double that of individuals from every other age bracket.

The survey only measured the spending of what it calls “high-net-worth individuals … who are currently active in the art market.” Family wealth and inherited art-buying habits clearly influenced the younger generation. But the unexpected result still challenges the impression that younger people are detached from the world of art. Those with money, at least, appear willing to spend.

“It’s always interesting when you have a notion or an idea going in, and it just gets completely disproved,” Clare McAndrew, the founder of the Arts Economics consultancy and the author of the report, tells the Art Newspaper’s Carlie Porterfield.

She adds: “So many people are saying that younger collectors are not so engaged or not really interested, and they’re not focusing on art, or they’re just buying a load of other stuff. Whereas this survey showed very much a different picture, that they were among the most engaged of all the different age brackets, and the spending levels were pretty amazing.”

The report shows that Gen Z collectors’ willingness to open their wallets has gained significant momentum in recent years. Their average spending on fine art jumped 19 percent from 2024 (around $292,000) to 2025 ($347,000). Average spending in the first half of 2026 has already reached $329,000.

High-net-worth baby boomers, the next-closest spenders, were left in Gen Z’s dust over those same years. Boomers spent an average of just $158,000 in 2024, $165,000 in 2025 and $156,000 so far in 2026.

Crucially, the report flags two major qualifiers regarding its findings. The first is sample size. Of the 3,100 high net-worth-individuals who participated in the survey, just 9 percent were Gen Z. Forty-four percent were millennials, 25 percent were Gen X and 22 percent were baby boomers.

The second caveat is that average spending figures were likely skewed by the small percentage of collectors, across all generations, who shelled out significantly more money on art than their peers. Among Gen Z collectors, 13 percent spent more than $1 million on art in the first half of 2026, while 75 percent spent less than $100,000. Still, only 3 percent of boomer respondents, 2 percent of millennials and 1 percent of Gen X spent more than $1 million.

The report sheds light on the ways in which Gen Z behavior adheres to traditional collecting trends—as well as how members of this generation buck them.

For every generation, paintings are the most popular medium to purchase. However, Gen Z outspends the next-highest generation on jewelry and gems by a factor of more than five. And though Gen Z is heavily reliant on social media for art advice, the survey notes that those who began collecting through online channels are the most likely to attend in-person, art-related events.

“Instagram reaches such a wide audience,” Mazdak Sanii, founder of Avant Arte, an art marketplace aimed at reaching a younger generation of art collectors, tells the Financial Times’ Melanie Gerlis. “Not everyone on it has $1,000 to start collecting, but they might discover an artist that way, then visit one of their exhibitions. It’s the start.”

Even so, Gen Z was also the most adventurous group of buyers. Per the report, 56 percent of Gen Z respondents bought an unfamiliar artist’s work, compared with just 36 percent of boomers.

The survey’s findings suggest an art world in flux, with younger buyers finding their way into the market and the market finding ways to adapt.

“This tells a very different picture of who’s out there buying art,” Matthew Newton, head of Art Advisory Americas at UBS, tells CNBC’s Robert Frank. “There is a wide conversation happening in the art world to accommodate and attract this generation. This tells us that those individuals are already out there and already very active.”