Gen Z has become the most active purchaser of high-end art, changing the face of a market long dominated by baby boomers, according to a new study.
Gen Z will spend more money on art than any other generation from 2025 to early 2026, according to the Art Economics Global Collecting Survey by Art Basel and UBS. Gen Z spent more than twice as much as Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and older generations. According to the study, Gen Z will account for almost half of all art collectors purchasing art worth $1 million or more in 2026.
The survey included 3,100 high-net-worth individuals currently active in the art market with assets of over $1 million.
Gen Zers surveyed spent an average of $347,460 on art, an increase of 19% from the previous year. By comparison, the overall average spend by high-net-worth collectors in 2025 is $124,265.
Gen Z was also the biggest spender in other collectibles categories. They held the largest lead over Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials in sports memorabilia, wine, whiskey and spirits, and luxury collectible sneakers. Jewelry and gemstones had the biggest gains, with Gen Z spending an average of $151,310 in 2026, more than five times the next highest-spending Gen X collector ($29,500).
“This tells a very different picture of who is buying art,” said Matthew Newton, head of art advisory Americas at UBS. “There’s a wide conversation going on in the art world to embrace and attract this generation. This shows that these people are already out there and are already very active.”
In addition to their spending, Gen Z also has a strong presence in galleries, museums, and art fairs. Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz said Art Basel fairs around the world are attracting Gen Z, especially women.
“Since COVID-19, we’ve had a significant amount of new VIP audience members come to our shows,” he said. “They tend to be women. They’re younger, they’re more authentic. And what we’re seeing is they also have a higher propensity to spend. When they lean, they lean a lot.”
Gen Z is also more likely to retain art inherited from their families. Among those who inherited a work, almost 90% of Gen Z collectors still own the work, compared to just 64% of Gen X collectors. This finding contradicts a widely held notion in the art market that Gen Z and Millennials don’t want their parents’ collections and are more likely to sell them.
Women are also becoming more influential in the art market. Research shows that women are amassing wealth more extensively than men, as they capture a larger share of the world’s wealth through income, entrepreneurship and inheritance. Men are more likely to purchase at a higher price point, with 13% of men purchasing artworks valued at $100,000 or more, compared to 7% of women. However, the study found higher participation rates among women across all mediums, including painting, photography, digital work, and emerging artists.
The support of Gen Z and women is driving a rapid recovery in the art market, which has been in the doldrums for nearly three years. According to the report, total art market sales will increase by 4% in 2025 to $59.6 billion. According to the report, 19% of collectors who spent between $1 million and $10 million in the first half of 2026 were new collectors (collecting for up to five years), compared to just 4% of collectors in the very established demographic (collecting for more than 20 years).
Claire McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, said the outlook for the market looked strong this year.
“Looking ahead, sentiment will be quite positive,” she said. “Across all segments we surveyed, the majority expected the art market to grow over a six-month, 12-month, five-year or 10-year period.”
