Wealthy women spend more on art than men, Art Basel report reveals.
Courtesy of Art Basel.
High-net-worth (HNW) women collectors now outspend their male counterparts by 46%, according to the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025. Released on October 23rd, the report surveyed 3,100 HNW individuals across 10 major markets to analyze current collecting habits.
The report found that, among HNW collectors, Gen Z and millennial women are outspending men, whereas male Gen X and boomer collectors are outspending their women counterparts. Additionally, 55% of women surveyed reported buying works by newly discovered artists “frequently or often,” compared to 44% of male respondents. The report found that women were generally less risk-averse in their collecting decisions.
“Contrary to the common stereotype of women as more risk-averse than men, the findings reveal that in the context of collecting, women are equally aware of potential risks yet often more willing to embrace them in practice—purchasing across a broader range of nontraditional mediums and actively supporting emerging and unknown artists,” said Clare McAndrew, the author of the report and founder of Art Economics, in a statement.
Women’s collections also came closer to gender parity: 49% of the works in their collections were by women artists, compared with 40% of works in men’s collections. In the United States and Japan, the share of women artists in women’s collections exceeded 50%.
Collectors allocated an average of 20% of their wealth to art in 2025, up from 15% the year before. Meanwhile, ultra-high-net-worth individuals (with over $50 million in assets) dedicated nearly 28% of their wealth to art. Gen Z collectors also exceeded the average, spending an average of 26% of their wealth on art. Almost 90% of Gen Z collectors who inherited artworks kept them, underscoring the role of family legacy in building a collection.
Despite global economic headwinds, the report found sustained optimism across the market. In fact, 84% of respondents remained confident in the short-term outlook for art.
