Starting Your Art Collection

Collecting art can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience for anyone, despite the popular myth that it is only for the wealthiest individuals. And, if done with some research and thought, your art collection can become a tidy investment too.

Having said that, art is best collected for love rather than money, and generally any single piece of art will not appreciate significantly in value for a number of years. So, collecting for the pure enjoyment of the art is the best mindset to start with.

There are however a number of tips you can follow to make your collection as valuable as possible, and improve your chances of making a return on your investment:

1) Collect work from living artists who are currently creating art, and making a living doing so. These pieces have a much more likely chance of becoming valuable down the road.

2) Don't try and buy based on what somebody is telling you is "hot" at the moment. All art goes through hot and cold spells. There are good artists in every genre, so go with a genre that you personally enjoy and find good artists within that genre.

3) Do buy from serious emerging artists. This takes a little more risk as it is harder to research an unknown artist. If possible, talk to the artist. Figure out how "serious" he or she is, how long they have been painting etc. You can often find really beautiful and high quality art from these people, at very affordable prices.

4) Do not buy overpriced art. Yes, it's hard to tell if it's overpriced sometimes, but if your gut tells you it is, then it probably is.

5) Look for a good deal on art. One genre of art will generally command a higher price than another based on market trends. If you like realist landscapes, but contemporary art is currently selling for comparably higher prices, then buy your landscapes! Chances are the tides will turn and you will have made a good investment. Also, economic downturns are often an excellent time to buy art. Artists, like anyone else selling a product, are hurting. Prices will generally come down. Though an artist may not put his or her work explicitly "on sale," chances are that you will be able to negotiate a lower price than what is advertized. This works best when buying direct from the artist.

6) Continuing from the last point, don't be afraid to negotiate. Prices are not set in stone. Artists love to sell their work. There is no harm in asking for a better price, especially if you are considering purchasing more than one of the artist's pieces.

7) If you are starting your collection on a budget, there is nothing wrong with buying good prints and giclees. After all, the biggest reason to collect art is for enjoyment. You can certainly enjoy a quality reproduction almost as much as the original. Plus, when just starting out, you can buy more pieces this way. The key to buying reproductions is ensuring that they are limited editions.

8) Be wary of print editions much larger than 200-300, they will generally not be as valuable. When buying giclees do your homework: Check that the "limited edition" which you are buying is truly limited. Some artists will sell the same giclee in a variety of sizes, making each size a separate limited edition. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but your giclee will have less value if 2000 of the same image have been sold, regardless the size of the picture.

Okay, if you stick to those principles you should be able to get off to a good start. Most importantly though, have fun buying the art! Talk with the artists, learn their creative process, find out what inspires them. You'll soon become an expert on a particlar artist's work, an added bonus if you decide to resell it in the future.