The Key to Successful Art Investment

The Key to Successful Art Investment

One of the most important things to remember when investing in art is that a poor quality work is always going to be a poor quality work regardless of how famous the artist is. With such huge volumes of art being bought and sold it is extremely important for art investors to invest in an artwork that stands out from the crowd if they want to maximise the potential of an increase in value. Because there are so many works available on the market and because many of them are average at best, the works that will stand out the most and attract the most attention will be those of the highest quality.

I have lost count of the number of times I have witnessed people purchase an extremely poor quality artwork just because it was produced by a famous artist.  Many art investors seem to be the under the misapprehension that if an artist sells an artwork for one million dollars that anything they create, regardless of the quality of the work, has just as much investment potential as the work that sold for one million dollars. It doesn’t matter how much an artist’s work sells for, a poor quality artwork will always carry the stigma of being a poor quality artwork.

The fact is that when investing in art you are much more likely to receive a greater return by paying more for a high quality artwork than by purchasing a low quality ‘bargain’. For the price of a Picasso doodle you can purchase a high quality photograph by one of the best emerging contemporary photographers. When it comes time to sell your investment the market will be far more receptive to a top quality photograph than to a poor quality doodle.

Most artists have produced churned out a few quick paintings or doodles for a bit of extra cash at some stage during their career so it pays to always keep in mind that quality is the key to successful art investment.

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.