The Next-Gen Collectors: Lucy Alice Sansom

“Growing up, my family holidays would consist of pubs, churches and art galleries,” Lucy Alice Sansom says. “At the time, I wanted to be at all-inclusive hotels in Tenerife like my friends.” 

This no longer has the same appeal for the young collector. “Nowadays my holidays look very similar to how they used to,” she says. “The first thing I do when I arrive somewhere is look up the nearest art gallery.” 

Sansom now works for the UK government’s Office for Investment, whose building contains the government’s art collection – though her interest in art bloomed years ago. 

Sansom’s father, a secondary school art teacher, had grown up in Hartlepool, County Durham. As a boy, he had been friends with local artist John Wilson McCracken, whose circle of friends included Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud (McCracken staged the first solo exhibition of the latter’s work outside of London). Sansom also cites the pre-Raphaelites as her first artworld loves – catalysed by the release of the late-noughties BBC drama serial about the brotherhood, Desperate Romantics (2009).

 “Becoming a collector was on my list of things to do before turning 30,” Sansom says. She technically acquired her first piece long before: “As a young teen, on holiday in Stratford upon Avon, I begged my parents to buy me an original print of Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which cost 30 pounds. I have to admit, it took me 20 years to get it framed. But now it hangs proudly beside my bed – it may well not be worth anything at all, but it’s a very special piece to me.”

Sansom’s collection is housed at her home in London. Items such as her Bottom print and menus from favourite brunch spots hang alongside pre-Raphaelite sketches by the likes of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris, as well as works by Beryl Cook, Grayson Perry, Robert Longo and ​​Olympia Alsawi.

Beryl Cook, Lady of Marseille, 1982–2024. Photo: Graham Pearson. Courtesy the Beryl Cook Estate and Studio Voltaire

Sansom’s first ‘serious’ purchase (in other words, something that cost “more than 30 pounds”) was a Barbara Kruger editioned mirror released on the occasion of her exhibition Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. at the Serpentine Gallery in 2024. “A couple of years before purchasing that, I’d visited the Broad Museum in Los Angeles and bought a postcard of Kruger’s work. I found it the other day and thought to myself: wow, who would have thought that, three years later, I would actually own a piece of her work?”

Subsequent acquisitions have occurred mainly through a growing network of industry contacts forged through the attendance of many evening events. Sansom previously worked for Ernst & Young – one of the ‘Big Four’ global professional services networks – who have a longstanding partnership with the Tate and have previously worked with other institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum. “They would host private views in the evenings and curator talks at lunchtime,” she says. “I even had the opportunity to work as an art guide at Tate Britain.”

As she began to focus more on collecting culture, Sansom began to familiarise herself with the gallery scene. “I have found that when you buy from galleries, you find yourself on newsletters and getting invited to events, which is a wonderful way to build up your network and discover new artists,” Sansom says. “So investing in one print can end up opening doors into what can feel like an exclusive world.” 

Sansom had firsthand experience of this when she purchased a work from the Tom of Finland and Beryl Cook exhibition at London’s House of Voltaire in 2024. “It’s up there as one of my favourite pieces. It hangs on the wall facing my bed, and it’s just such a joy to wake up to – it inspires me to get my lippy on and take on the world.”

Grayson Perry, Magical Thinking, 2024. Courtesy Avant Arte

Sansom has also purchased works through the online limited editions platform Avant Arte, which she discovered through a friend – she recently participated in the platform’s third New Generation Survey, which reports on the collecting and cultural habits of collectors under the age of 45. Results include evidence that art is becoming increasingly central to identity and lifestyle, as well as a growing appetite among young collectors to financially support institutions. Sansom says that this increased interest to engage meaningfully with collecting is evident among her friends, who have been inspired by her own endeavours. “Collectors aren’t just people that have inherited art or went to private school or come from family money,” she says.

Sansom also advocates for greater awareness of financial schemes that make collecting art accessible to those without immediate capital. “I think initiatives like the ‘Own Art’ scheme are great, and more people need to know about them,” she says, referring to the national, publicly funded initiative which provides interest-free credit for collectors wishing to purchase original works, enabling buyers to spread the cost of purchase over monthly instalments. Many galleries also offer their own payment plans – Sansom mentions a print by Joy Labinjo released in conjunction with Whitechapel Gallery as part of the scheme, providing a more affordable way to engage with the artist’s practice. 

Sansom maintains that opportunities to become involved with the artworld exist – it is just a matter of increasing awareness surrounding them. “If you’re not handed those networks through family and friends, it can be quite intimidating,” she says. “But you can be an art collector – it’s not just limited to the stereotypes.” 

“Seek out all of the opportunities,” she continues. “Go to all of the galleries that you can – so many of them are free. Be curious, engage with people and use all the tools that are available. If you’re interested and curious, and you put yourself out there, that energy comes back to you.”