During the pandemic, online art sales boomed. With galleries shuttered and fairs canceled, the value of online sales doubled even as the market contracted, reaching 25% of the global art market in 2020. This surge, born of necessity, was greater than seen in other industries, as the art trade scrambled to build a digital infrastructure that was already commonplace in mainstream retail.

Six years on, the direction of travel has significantly changed. In 2025, after a third straight year of decline, online sales accounted for just 15% of the market according to The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report, authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew of Arts Economics. The highest-value sales have returned to in-person settings, and collectors want to be at the heart of the action once more. They want a studio visit, a dinner beneath an ancient Egyptian temple, a weekend on Menorca.

‘Today’s collectors are increasingly looking for deeper engagement with the worlds that surround the objects they acquire,’ says Sotheby’s Executive Vice President for the Global Fine Art Division, Madeline Lissner. ‘Whether they collect contemporary art, watches, wine, jewelry, or sports memorabilia, many are seeking access, insight, and a sense of community alongside ownership.’ Experiences, she adds, are ‘not separate from the core business – they are an extension of it.’

Collectors themselves tell a similar story. The Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting asked high-net-worth collectors to identify their single most important motivation when buying art. Just 24% chose financial investment, with around three-quarters ranking something else first: 20% chose self-focus and pleasure, and 17% social motivations, such as building connections with others.

McAndrew notes that the wealthier the collector, the less important financial drivers become, and that the results paralleled findings in luxury markets, ‘where women tend to be more driven by experience-based, aesthetic, and pleasure-centered motives, while men emphasize elitism and exclusivity in their spending.’

Wider luxury-market research shows high-end experiences continue to outpace spending on physical goods. ‘Across affluent consumers, there has been more stress placed on memorable experiences,’ says Paul Donovan, Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management. ‘In a world lived on social media, value and status no longer come simply from visibly owning durable goods. If it is something that can be posted about on Instagram, consumers are more inclined to buy.’

Few markets appear better placed to benefit from the experience economy than art, where the object has only ever been part of the attraction. As Lissner notes, a packed evening auction, with lights dimmed and its choreography of raised arms and coded glances, is itself a piece of participatory theater.

The VIP preview at Art Basel is another of the art market’s great rituals. Yet the circulation of pre-fair PDFs and increase in online previews had somewhat diminished the possibility of finding hidden treasures when collectors filed into the hall on a Tuesday morning. In response, the fair launched Basel Exclusive in June, keeping select major works under wraps until the opening day. The initiative, says Noah Horowitz, the CEO of Art Basel, ‘reinforced the value of in-person discovery and restored a sense of anticipation that cannot be replicated virtually.’

Art Basel’s collectors ‘demand tailored offerings,’ Horowitz says. ‘By deepening intentional moments of in-person discovery, learning, and cultural exchange, we’re strengthening the relationships that underpin the health, resilience, and longevity of the art market.’

The strategy appears to be paying off. Basel Exclusive sales included a Pablo Picasso painting from Almine Rech, which sold for USD 6–6.5 million, and a Philip Guston painting offered by Hauser & Wirth. The gallery’s president, Iwan Wirth, described it ‘as strong a first day as we’ve ever had.’

Aside from these big-ticket sales, the fair experience is crucial in engaging young audiences. ‘Younger collectors want to feel part of something that’s going on,’ McAndrew says. ‘They want to be there and get the Art Basel t-shirt, even if they can’t afford the artwork just yet.’

Hauser & Wirth has pioneered a model of the gallery as a cultural destination. In 2014, they opened an art center on a farm in Somerset, in rural South West England, with gardens, a restaurant, and a public program designed to connect with the local community and landscape. Over a million people, the gallery says, have visited since. Puerto Rican artist Angel Oteroʼs current exhibition continues until October 18, and visitors can sit outdoors on summer evenings and watch films chosen by him, or join Jeffrey Gibson, who is artist-in-residence over August, for a walk through his flag works installed in the farmyard.

The Somerset model has since traveled. In Menorca, the gallery occupies a former naval hospital on Illa del Rei, a small island which can be reached by a shuttle boat across Mahón harbor. In early 2026, it announced plans for another destination venue with the acquisition of the Palazzo Forcella de Seta on the Palermo seafront.

One of the fastest growing in-person experiences, however, may be the one that poses the greatest challenge for galleries. In the 2025 collector survey, artist studio visits saw a greater rise in attendance than any other art event, including exhibitions, biennials, auctions, and fairs. In tandem, buying directly from artists, whether through a studio visit, via Instagram, or by commission, more than trebled as a share of collector spending, to 20%. Galleries, of course, remain vital in developing an artist’s work and career, but the desire among collectors to be closer than ever to the action is reshaping the art market.