Why Young Collectors Are Leaving the European Art Market

Art Should Wait. Again.

This article is one big accidental flashback - and you’ll soon see why.
Today’s main topic comes from France, where statistics quietly reveal something interesting:

the French art market is losing the attention of young minds.

I originally wanted to focus on another article about art, but The Wall Street Journal kindly hid it behind a paywall. It’s always funny how everyone in the art world wants to earn money — and probably does, lol — except the artists, curators, and museums.

Oh wait.
I already said that earlier.
In another one of my art criticism articles.
Okay…

France, unlike some Asian art markets, is struggling to build a new generation of collectors.

“We’re having trouble attracting young people, whereas in other countries, like China, buyers are on average in their thirties,” Magda Danysz, vice president of the CPGA, told Le Monde. “Priorities have changed in France too; it’s the experience more than the object.”

“No new player opened after 2015 has been able to scale up, go international, or enter the fair system,” — Emmanuel Charpentier of CPGA added.

“This risks, in the long term, atrophying the market, drying up diversity, and compromising our ability to propel artists onto the international scene.”

I might be wrong, but maybe Chinese collectors still buy oil, acrylic and mixed-media works on canvas because — let’s be honest — it’s probably the only legal way to hang Winnie the Pooh on your wall.

Capitalism: OFF.
Communism: ON.
Problem solved?
Of course not.
Although it does give us another accidental entry into the endless conversation about art and censorship.

The real issue is deeper:

collecting art in the EU has become a rare sport.

And not just because of cultural fatigue.
We’ve talked about this before — taxes, the changing art economy, and the increasingly weird relationship between artists, galleries, collectors and money.

But if you need a few more reasons why young art collectors might decide that buying contemporary art can wait, you’re welcome:

• COVID crushed local businesses.
• There’s a war in Europe — somewhere east.
• There’s also an energy war with Russia.
• Chinese EVs are trying to drive the EU car market off a cliff.
• Trade wars are warming up.
• Migration crises are growing.
• Far-right slogans echo through the streets.
• And the Paris Olympics + Paralympics just cost taxpayers nearly €6 billion. (Yeah, I know the positive impact should be included too — but maybe not this early.)
• Oh, and AI is lurking in the corner, plotting to curate its own biennale.

So yes.

Buying a €5,000 painting might not be at the top of a thirty-year-old European’s financial priorities right now.

So maybe the time to start collecting… isn’t now?
Which sounds terrible coming from an artist.
I know.

Welcome to honest contemporary art commentary.

And let’s not forget that Guardian journalist who adores Paris graffiti but can’t stand the rest of the street art scene — proving once again that you don’t need a gallery ticket to feel the real pulse of art.

Maybe you don’t even need another contemporary art publication telling you what deserves your attention.

Sometimes you can just walk down the street.
Look around.
And maybe the next Basquiat is already there, cooking up his next big thing while the traditional art market is still trying to understand why thirty-year-olds aren’t buying paintings.

Maybe they’re waiting.
Maybe art should wait too.
Again.

...your worst artist and best friend,

hEhe and my contemporary art criticism

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