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With her new book “NextGen Collectors and the Art Market,” journalist and author Georgina Adam offers a timely perspective on the forces transforming today’s art world. In this interview, she shares her insights on a major generational shift driven by the “Great Wealth Transfer,” digitalization, and evolving values. As Millennials and GenZ redefine how art is discovered, collected, and valued, the market is becoming more dynamic, technology-driven, and increasingly shaped by new voices and changing cultural priorities.
Can you describe a fundamental generational shift in the art market? What do you see as the main drivers behind this change, and do you believe it is here to stay?
Obviously, there is a change as each generation passes on, but I do think this time is much more different and important because of a number of elements. One is Great Wealth Transfer, which didn’t happen in the past to that extent. The figures vary, but trillions of dollars will change hands over the next 20 years and will fall on the younger generations, particularly those under 50. What they will do with the money is crucial for the art market. Then there is the arrival of the internet, which has changed so much, it enables collecting to be completely different from the older generation, which had to go to galleries or museums, and read books, to learn about and see art. Now everything can be done on the internet, including buying art. And then there is an important factor, which is distrust of institutions, including museums. They were more trusted by the older generation and were sometimes guided in their collecting by museum directors. Today that has also changed, and influencers over the internet are very significant.
What are the most important differences between younger (Millennial and GenZ) collectors and previous generations in terms of motivations, risk appetite, and collecting strategies? What role do online platforms and new technologies play in how next-generation collectors discover, acquire, and manage art?
For motivations, climate change and identity are important in a way that previous generations did not have. Gender and racial identity, for instance, was hardly on their radar. As for risk, I think it is impossible to generalize. But for collecting strategies, I think there is less focus on a theme, a period, a style or a medium today. I have met younger collectors who collect across the board, even from Old Masters to contemporary. And they will put for example a skateboard designed by an artist into their collection. I don’t think the older generation thought like that. As for online platforms, they are absolutely crucial for discovering art, and there are some good platforms for managing collections. But interestingly, the latest UBS/Art Basel report shows that buying art online is declining. So despite the thinking a few years ago that everything would go online, it isn’t happening at the moment.
You refer to the “Great Wealth Transfer”: Could you briefly summarize what you mean by this, and what concrete impact you expect it to have on the art market and its stakeholders?
The critical challenges we face every day in protecting our cultural heritage are numerous. I will highlight a few key ones.
Figures vary but the generation of boomers (born 1946–1964) and silent (1925-1945) have been the richest in history thanks to increases in value of stocks, real estate and so on. Their fortunes which in many cases were considerable, are set to be passed on, as they die, to GenX, Millennials and GenZ. Often $84 trillion is cited as likely being passed on over the next 20 years or so, in the form of money, stocks, real estate and art. The question of what the younger generations will do with this money (and the art) is crucial. We are already seeing many major collections coming to auction. But since state-funded museums are facing declining financial support and tastes are changing, I predict that it will be difficult for the market to absorb all of the art coming for sale. However, some art is regarded as a store of value, an asset, so there will be buying of “blue-chip” art to put away and keep as part of a portfolio. It will be more difficult for the more minor works of art, or for artists such as Renoir who are not to younger people’s tastes. The great Renoirs will keep their value, but what about the more minor ones?
Do you believe traditional intermediaries such as galleries, advisors, and auction houses are evolving, or are new models and players beginning to take the lead?
They are certainly trying to evolve and adapt to the new generation, but there are interesting new initiatives, although generally driven by existing players changing how they operate (I am thinking of the private sales, for example Fair Warning). Younger galleries are more innovative, and use technology for instance Instagram extensively to promote their spaces and artists.
Looking forward, which key trends should collectors, advisors, and industry stakeholders keep on their radar in the coming years?
Take account of younger collectors’ different preoccupations: climate change, desire for experiences over objects, their ways of broadcasting their own identity, their use of the internet for many things that an older generation would not have even thought of (GenZ was the first “born” with the internet). And a younger generation is not indifferent to the possibility of art being a good investment. Older generations also thought that, but art was also a means of showing they were philanthropic, a way of demonstrating their success, both financial and personal. For younger generations, there are other means of broadcasting their success. And this comes back to the distrust of institutions – they are not so interested in, for example, naming rights in a museum. Statistics show a decline in philanthropy among younger generations.
All of this is broad brush, and there are plenty of exceptions, but my research for the books identified many of these trends, even if they do by no means apply to everyone.
Georgina Adam is a London-based journalist and author. She has written about the art market and the arts in general for well over 30 years, starting in Paris where she studied Islamic art at the Ecole du Louvre. After that she lived in London before spending five years in Japan, where she wrote on a freelance basis for a number of arts publications - The Art Newspaper, The Asian Art Newspaper, Art and Auction and Artnews - as well as Nikkei publishing.
She was art market editor at The Art Newspaper in London on her return from Tokyo and remains art market editor-at-large for that publication. She wrote the art market column for the Financial Times for eight years, before concentrating more on books.