EDINBURGH and Glasgow have been revealed as "more arty" than London in new research showing how much art is bought in each city.
Scotland’s capital is the fifth most arty city in the UK with 500 artworks bought per million inhabitants in 2016, according to the report by Artfinder, the UK’s biggest art marketplace.
Glasgow follows with 410 artworks bought per million inhabitants in 2016.
Cambridge tops the list, followed by Brighton, Southampton and St Albans while London trails behind Oxford in seventh place.
There are also regional differences in what art customers buy, with people in the south preferring abstract, non-figurative works and those in the north of England and Scotland preferring animals, flowers, plants and landscapes.
“London is always hailed as the art capital of the UK, but that isn’t necessarily reflected in the art-buying habits of ordinary people,” said Jonas Almgren, Artfinder CEO. “Our data shows that art buying is really strong in Scotland and also that people in smaller, artier cities and university cities are buying more than Londoners.”
Glasgow artist Julie Arbuckle, who came back to the city after seven years working in the Midlands, said she returned because it was “impossible to get any sort of momentum going there”.
She attended art school in Northampton and says the feeling was that once students graduated they had to move to London “as there was not as much a culture of art being part and parcel of daily life as there is in Glasgow”.
“It’s been said there must be something in the water as far as talent is concerned – the creative industries in Scotland have got an embarrassment of talent in comparison with rest of the UK I would say,” said Arbuckle.
“I think it is part of having really good free museums and exhibitions so there is that tradition of them being free and accessible to everyone.
“My mother was an art teacher so I was brought up going to art shows but even people without that kind of background are aware of the arts – I think it is more engraved into the culture here.’’
Arbuckle also thinks there is more government support for art in Scotland.
“As far as funding goes it appears to me to be valued not as a commodity but as an integral part of the community and the national identity.
“We are blessed with wonderful landscapes and that in itself can create an impetus to celebrate it and share the experience with people. People are exposed to beauty here. Other parts of the UK have beautiful places but it is more of an effort to get there.”
Edinburgh-based Gabriel Bohmer who is originally from Switzerland and has lived in Buenos Aires, Boston and London agrees that Scotland is culturally different.
“People are exposed to art all the time here and maybe that plays into wanting to purchase art. There must be more galleries here per capita than any other place I have lived,” he said.
“As an artist it is a really easy place to live in and be inspired by. I can see why people are interested in art as you have this great historic city but you can also be in the country very quickly so you are exposed to lots of art and lots of beautiful nature."
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