Things to Remember While Investing in Art

The Indian art market is divided into two segments - Modern and Contemporary. Modern segment comprises of masters like M F Husain, S H Raza, F N Souza, VS Gaitonde, Amrita Sher Gill and more. Contemporary segment is comparatively young, around last 30 years. Alternately, Painters who were born after 1930. 1. Do your own research. One of the first things to do before buying art is to empower yourself by reading up on art, visiting local art galleries, meeting artists/ collectors and other people who are actively involved in this field. Talk to artists, consultants and curators to get insights about the functioning of the art market and to also network with like-minded people intending to buy art also known as "Collectors". There are international auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's which focus on Indian art. Also there are domestic auction houses like Pundoles, Asta guru and Saffron Art. You can contact dealers and galleries. You can also approach an art advisor. You can end up paying a consultant 2-5% fee for expensive works. The service for smaller works may cost 5-15% of the value of the artwork. Fees also depends upon rarity of art work. Ensure that the dealers and galleries sell genuine/ authentic works. Art market is full with fake artworks, so make sure you do proper research before buying the art. Check few important documents while purchasing art like authenticity guarantee, a provenance certificate, that is the previous owners of the artwork, condition report, publications (if any). Nowadays, many auction houses like Saffronart do not provide authenticity certificate. While buying from the auction houses make sure you understand buyer's premium and the total cost incurred by (delivery charge, taxes, etc). Usually when you are buying through a dealer, only the seller has to give commission to the dealer and not the buyer. This can also be happen when you buy from a gallery. Again this depends on dealer, gallery and artwork involved. 2. Quality, not quantity. Invest in fewer pieces that are higher quality. Not all pieces done by a renowned artist are masterpieces. You must take help from experts to recognise a masterpiece. For instance, an oil on canvas is perhaps the most expensive form of painting. Then is an acrylic on canvas, followed by an acrylic on paper. Then would follow watercolor on paper and charcoal on paper. 3. Buy art that you like and understand. Allocate a budget. Buy art that you like. It is something you may keep for a lifetime, as you don't know whether you will be able to sell it or not. Unlike other forms of investment such as stocks, it is worth remembering that art has an aesthetic quality that can, and some say should, be appreciated outside of its monetary value. Art is a long term investment. Also, prices of a renowned artist's works do not necessarily shoot up when he dies. Art should not form more than 5% of your total investments. 4. Maintaining the artwork Once you buy the art, you also need to incur the maintenance cost like insurance, storage cost. Also you need to take care of the artwork, like art should be stored in an environment that does not get direct sunlight. 5. Investing in emerging artists Experts say you can look at investing in emerging artists whose works are available from Rs 1 lakh onwards. Though they may be a good option, it is difficult to predict who will make it big in the future. For this, you need to take advice from experts in the field. 6. Prints, limited editions If you have limited budget, you can also invest in limited edition prints like serigraphy, lithography. 7. Evaluating an artwork.