ALEXANDRIA, VA – Artfinder is the largest online marketplace for art in the world. It sells the work of 6,000 artists from 96 countries. Yesterday the company released a list of the top art-buying cities in the U.S. It appears that Alexandria residents love their art, because our city came in second place, behind Savannah, Georgia.
According to the Artfinder blog post “Art Capitals of the US,” there were 95 art sales for every 100,000 Alexandria residents. In comparison, Savannah saw 133 sales for every 100,000 residents, and Huntington Beach, California (in third place) saw 92 sales per 100,000 residents.
These findings are based on purchases made through the Artfinder website from 2017 to this year. Population statistics were examined to arrive at a fairer representation of the US, hence the use of 100,000.
“It’s brilliant to see the spread of cities across the US with an interest of art,” said the company’s CEO Michal Szczesny. “2020 saw a real boom for the online art market, with overall online art sales worldwide doubling to a record high of $12.4 billion in 2020, accounting for an all-time high of 25% of the art market’s overall value, up from just 9% in 2019.”
The blog post reports that in Alexandria, people buy paintings more than any other kind of art. Acrylic and oil paintings amount to 56% of all purchases. The art most buyers prefer is landscape, sea and sky, and abstract or non-figurative art. These types account for 24% of purchases.
In terms of style, impressionistic art is heavily favored, making up 29% of purchases.
When it comes to color, Artfinder says that gray is popular throughout the US. Here in town, gray is seen in 36% of buys.
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