Art collectors are directing a significant share of their wealth toward art, but their behavior is broader than headline auction prices suggest. The latest Art Basel & UBS research shows active high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) buying through galleries, dealers, artists’ studios, social media and fairs, while also attending exhibitions and planning for inheritance. The figures below focus primarily on active HNW collectors, not everyone who owns art.
Contents
- Who collects and how wealth is allocated
- Spending levels and preferred media
- Artist discovery, gender and career stage
- Where collectors buy art
- Events and art-fair engagement
- Buying plans, inheritance and resale
Who collects and how wealth is allocated
The Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 measured how active HNW collectors distribute wealth across art and other assets. In 2025, art represented an average 20% of active HNW collectors’ wealth portfolios. That was lower than the 24% peak recorded in 2022, indicating that the share allocated to art can change materially over time.
Wealth level was strongly associated with allocation. Collectors with more than $50 million in wealth allocated an average 28% of their wealth to art in 2025. In the 2024 HNWI survey, the same wealth group allocated 25%, compared with a 15% overall average. These are survey averages, so they describe the respondents covered by each study rather than every private collection.
The 2024 collector survey respondents averaged 45 years of age. Millennials made up 40% of respondents, while Gen X made up 23%. By wealth band, 55% had between $1 million and $10 million, 39% had between $10 million and $50 million, and 6% had more than $50 million. This profile matters when interpreting the other percentages: the survey is weighted toward HNW individuals who actively collect, not a general population sample.
The 2025 survey included 3,100 HNWIs, of whom 1,575 were women, or 46% of respondents. Spending also differed by gender in the 2024 research: high-net-worth women spent an average 46% more on art and antiques than men. The result is an average comparison, not a claim that every woman collector spends more than every man.
Younger collectors also showed a relatively high allocation. Gen Z collectors allocated an average 26% of wealth to art in 2025, compared with the 20% average for HNWIs overall.
| Collector group or measure | Art allocation or profile | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Active HNW collectors | 20% of wealth portfolios | 2025 |
| Collectors with more than $50 million | 28% of wealth | 2025 |
| Overall HNWI average | 15% of wealth | 2024 |
| Gen Z collectors | 26% of wealth | 2025 |
| Average survey respondent age | 45 years | 2024 |
Source: The Art Basel & UBS Survey Of Global Collecting 2025; 2025 survey overview; Inheritance and Collecting.
Spending levels and preferred media
HNWIs spent an average $438,990 on art and antiques across an average of 14 works during full-year 2024. The median was much lower, at $24,000. That gap shows how a relatively small group of very large purchases can lift the average above the typical respondent’s expenditure.
The upper end of the spending distribution was substantial. Ten percent of HNWIs spent more than $500,000 on art and antiques in 2024, and 7% spent more than $1 million. For the first half of 2025, the median expenditure was $22,000. Because that figure covers only six months, it should not be treated as a directly equivalent full-year measure.
Fine art remained a central part of collecting activity. Purchases of fine art were reported by 78% of HNWIs in 2024 and by 74% in the first half of 2025. Paintings accounted for 27% of total fine-art spending in 2024.
Digital work was also part of the mainstream collecting mix. Just over half of HNWIs, 51%, bought a digital artwork during 2024 or the first half of 2025. Across the 2024/2025 period, digital art and sculpture each represented 14% of HNWI spending by medium. The figures measure reported purchases and spending shares; they do not establish that one medium is universally preferred by all collectors.
The combination of a $24,000 median full-year expenditure and a $438,990 average suggests a highly uneven market within the HNWI group. The 10% spending more than $500,000 and the 7% spending more than $1 million are especially important context when interpreting average-dollar headlines.
Source: HNWI Spending on Art, from The Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 By Arts Economics.
Artist discovery, gender and career stage
Discovering artists for the first time was common among HNWIs. Sixty-six percent bought works by artists they discovered for the first time in 2024/2025, an increase of 8 percentage points year on year. The share rose from 43% in 2022 to 66% in 2024/2025, showing a marked increase over the comparison period.
Women were more likely than men to buy newly discovered artists in 2024/2025: 69% compared with 63%. The survey also found that 55% of women reported buying works by unknown artists frequently or often in 2025, versus 44% of men. At the same time, 52% of HNWIs viewed buying from an unknown artist as a high-risk purchase. Interest in discovery therefore coexisted with meaningful perceived risk.
Spending was distributed across career stages. HNWIs allocated 35% of art spending to new and emerging artists across 2024 and the first half of 2025. Mid-career artists received 21%, while established artists received 44%. These shares add to the reported total across the three career-stage categories and describe spending allocation, not the number of works purchased.
Representation of female artists in collections also changed over the longer period covered by the research. Female artists represented 44% of works in HNWI collections in 2025, up from 33% in 2018. The comparison tracks the share of works, not the share of collector identities or the share of total spending.
Source: HNWI Spending on Art.
Where collectors buy art
Galleries and dealers remained the broadest reported channel. Eighty-three percent of HNWIs bought through a gallery or dealer in person, online, via social media or at an art fair in 2024/2025. Among HNWIs who bought from a dealer, 51% made at least one purchase through Instagram without seeing the work in person.
Art fairs were connected to purchases for 58% of HNWIs in 2024/2025. Dealers accounted for 43% of the value of HNWI art transactions during that period. In 2025, 30% of HNWIs preferred buying directly from dealers, while 15% preferred dealers at art fairs. These preference figures are not the same as transaction-value shares, so they should be read separately.
Auctions reached 49% of HNWIs in 2024/2025, but auctions represented 12% of HNWI art spending in that period, down from 23% in 2023. The difference between participation and spending share indicates that many collectors may have used auctions without auctions accounting for most of their total expenditure.
Direct artist relationships were also significant. Forty-three percent of HNWIs bought directly from artists’ studios in 2024/2025. Thirty-seven percent commissioned works directly from artists, while 35% purchased through Instagram links. These channel percentages can overlap because a collector may use several routes during the same period.
Source: Sales Channels, from The Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 By Arts Economics.
Events and art-fair engagement
HNWIs attended an average of 48 art-related events in 2024. That was close to the 49-event average in 2023 and above the 41-event average in 2019. Planned attendance also differed by gender: women planned to attend 52 art-related events in 2025, compared with 44 planned by men.
Museum exhibitions were the most numerous specifically reported exhibition category, averaging 14 visits in 2024, with 13 planned for 2025. HNWIs attended an average seven gallery exhibitions and six art fairs in 2024. Artist studio visits averaged seven in 2024, with eight planned for 2025.
The forward-looking 2026 figures describe plans, not completed attendance. Ninety-six percent of HNWIs planned to attend art events in 2026, and 48% hoped to attend more events in 2026 than in 2025. Gen Z HNWIs were the most likely of the age groups listed to plan an increase: 56%, compared with 49% of millennials and 36% of boomers.
Art Basel VIP collectors formed a more specific comparison group. Their gallery exhibitions averaged 21 visits in 2024, down from 36 in 2019. This result comes from the Art Basel VIP survey and should not be treated as the average for all HNWIs.
Source: The Art Basel & UBS Survey Of Global Collecting 2025; Art Basel VIP Survey.
Buying plans, inheritance and resale
Buying intentions remained positive but moderated across the three-year comparison. Forty percent of HNWIs planned to buy more art in the next 12 months in 2025, compared with 43% in 2024 and 54% in 2023. In the same 2025 outlook, 84% were optimistic about the art market through the rest of 2025, and 81% were optimistic about the following 12 months.
Selling plans moved sharply lower: 25% planned to sell art in the next 12 months in 2025, down from 55% in 2024. Another 25% planned to donate works in the next 12 months in 2025. These are stated intentions measured in 2025, not confirmed future transactions.
Inheritance is already part of many collectors’ experience. In the 2024 HNWI survey, 91% had inherited or been gifted works, and 72% had kept at least some of those works. Among those who did not keep inherited works, 55% cited insufficient space and 47% cited using proceeds to settle estate taxes. Eighty percent were concerned about preserving their collections for future generations and legacy planning.
Resale was also reported by a substantial minority. In the 2023 survey, 48% of HNW collectors had resold works, including 38% who had resold during 2022 and 2023. Among HNW collectors who resold, 39% reported an average resale period of up to three years, while 83% resold within five years. These historical resale findings come from the 2023 survey and have not been relabeled as 2026 measurements.
Source: Outlook & Buying Plans; Inheritance and Collecting; HNW Collector Motivations.