We assess the impact of social and monetary contextual information on liking ratings of art. A group of art-naïve university students (N=187) was asked to rate a set of 90 paintings for liking, using a 7-point Likert-type scale. Before painting presentation, participants were primed either with information that a certain social group (fellow students, art museum curators/art experts, or low-education/income youth) had rated the painting positively or negatively (social prime, Study 1) or with a fictitious sales price of the artwork (monetary prime, Study 2). These conditions were compared against a control condition in which paintings were viewed without priming information. Results showed a significant effect of both priming types. Paintings with high monetary primes or with high ratings by peers and art experts led to higher participant liking ratings. In contrast, paintings with a low rating by the low-education/income social group led to higher liking ratings by participants. Social priming was also modulated by interest in art and by the level of identification with the social groups. These results provide empirical support for the social “distinction” behavior theory, according to which individuals use their evaluation and engagement with art in order to show allegiance to, or distance themselves from, desirable/undesirable social others, and mark an important area for future research into the analysis of consumer decisions or art preference.