The UK’s biggest art marketplace Artfinder has released new data on the latest art-buying habits across Britain, revealing that Salisbury is  the number one city for purchasing art, with 515 artworks bought per 100,000 inhabitants. Alongside Salisbury, Oxford, Cambridge, Gloucester and Chelmsford also ranked in the top five, making them the UK’s most arty cities.

Salisbury’s art lovers buy more paintings than any other kind of art, with oil and acrylic paintings making up 38% of all pieces bought.  All things nature seems to be their preference when it comes to the subject of their artworks, as landscapes, sea and sky (28% of all purchases) and animal and birds (18.5% of all purchases) are the most sought after subjects.

When it comes to style, the people of Salisbury love both impressionistic (21% of all purchases) and expressive and gestural art (11% of all purchases). Interestingly though, when it comes to which colour is the most popular the whole of the UK can seemingly agree, as grey comes out on top across every Art Capital there is, with grey artwork making up 68.5% of Salisbury’s pieces.

Salisbury-based artist James Earley uses his art to raise awareness of issues in the world today, such as homelessness, poverty, war, and mental health and is currently working on a series of portraits of homeless people who are living on the streets of Salisbury and Southampton.

James commented: “Salisbury is a city with a big history, it has an amazing and famous cathedral, it has beautiful surrounding countryside with incredible views, it has a diverse range of people, it has incredible colour. Salisbury is an ideal city to practise and show art and being crowned as the art buying capital of the UK makes me feel very proud. It is a huge compliment to the city and to those who have pushed art to the forefront through opening studios and exhibitions. It is now one of the pillars of the city and I truly believe this to be a celebration for Salisbury’s diversity.”

Michal Szczesny, CEO at Artfinder adds: “It’s brilliant to see Salisbury crowned as the capital art-buying city of the UK. 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. Our study shows that the whole of the UK is buying original art for their homes and here at Artfinder, we couldn’t be happier to provide the nation’s art-lovers with unique pieces created by independent artists.”

Artfinder sells original art from 6,000 artists in 96 countries, making it the world’s largest marketplace for art.

Interested in finding out which towns in the UK rank in their own Top 10? Find out here: ‘Art Capitals of the UK’.

Salisbury-based artists you can find on Artfinder: