Do You Have to Like the Art that You Collect?

No, it is not necessary that you like the art that you invest in!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/foshie/7290175046/

art — *^{_{Robert Indiana, Love, 1970 – present}}*

While it is generally advisable that the art appeals to you in some manner, especially if you are displaying the art on the walls of your home. However, you should have a good idea about where you will be storing your art before you commit to investing. So, if the unappealing art in question will be stored out of the way, in a spare bedroom, or in a vault, ‘liking’ the art becomes less important. In these cases, you will be able to focus solely on the financial potential of an investment, rather than whether it personally appeals to you.

Yet, we are not all lucky enough to live in a home with spare rooms or adequate storage space for art that we don’t particularly want to live with. It is more likely that the investments that we purchase will be living on our walls and we will be encountering them every single day. As such, liking the the art you collect becomes important (especially if you are holding your art investments for 10 years or more).

Photo by Cindy Ord / Getty Images — *^{_{Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comedian,” featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall, 2019}}*

You don’t have to love the art you buy. But you should, in most cases, like it. Also, as an aside, it might be good to note that loving the work may just make it hard for you to part with the art when it comes time to sell your investments.

Confidence in Your Art Collection

An additional facet of personally liking the art you collect is that you can hold a greater deal of confidence in your investment choices. Even if your choices don’t return value to you as you expected, you can spend less sleepless nights second guessing your choices.

Further, you will have surrounded yourself with art that has been a pleasure to live with, regardless of its eventual investment return. And in a way, that is a return of value in a different way.

Question Your Biases

But don’t forget to analyze your biases about what is appealing, tasteful, or good art. If you don’t consider the tastes of other collectors, and reconsider some of your biases, some great investment opportunities could slip through your fingers.