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Original poster

Is buying art a waste of money?

28 replies

MonsteraCheeseplant · 23/02/2020 20:44

Art can be cheap or expensive, and value for money wise, you can get a great deal buying a poster type print for next to nothing. So is it ever a good investment to buy more expensive 'pieces'?

OP posts:
SarahAndQuack · 23/02/2020 21:03

I would think it's risky unless you know what you're doing?

I have a painting I bought because I loved it. It has increased in value by about 100% since I bought it, but since I didn't spend much on it in the first place, that doesn't mean a lot! I was gutted when I realised because I'd wanted to buy more of the same artist's work and couldn't afford it. But then, I wouldn't sell it (because I like it), and TBH it's still not like it's worth masses, so wouldn't be worth it.

I don't get the impression that it's common for someone to start out selling for a fiver down the market and then rapidly to be commanding six figure sums.

Belindabelle · 23/02/2020 21:08

For me as long as you truly love the piece of art you can’t lose.

Best case scenario you buy a painting that you love and in 20 years it has increased in value. You can sell it and make a profit or hang on to it. Worse case scenario, the value doesn’t increase but you have enjoyed the piece of art anyway.

I have two signed limited edition prints by a well known artist. They have both increased in value. I love them and don’t ever intend to sell but if times get tough I guess I could sell them and buy the prints instead.

LesLavandes · 23/02/2020 22:29

I have recent experience in art and jewellery valuations done by professionals.

If you want a valuation for insurance, it will be a heck of a lot more than a valuation for mid cost sale price at auction. This is something most people don't understand.

The only art and jewellery that make money on a sake are

Paintings of mainly well known artists or younger prodigies

  • jewellery from other periods - original good art deco etc. Your beautiful Van Cleef and Arpels will not get the value you bought it for in auction house

Interested in this thread?

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Art & design
SpaceDinosaur · 23/02/2020 23:09

If you look at it and it makes you happy then you can't lose.

I saw a painting displayed in a student gallery 8 years ago and it stopped me in my tracks. I absolutely loved it.
I went in. Stared and loved it for ages then left.
My (now DH) was with me and asked me what I was doing if I clearly loved it so much. I said I didn't know if it was worth buying.

So he marched me back there and we bought it.
It was a student piece.
£70
I know nothing of the artist but every time I look at the painting which is still hanging in our living room, I feel happy, I smile.

So £70 has been 8 years of happiness and still counting. I can't lose 😄

Buying art because it may increase in value is cute but unless a piece speaks to you then what's the point? You could offer me a number of beautiful paintings but unless a picture or sculpture or pottery speaks to you then it's just clutter and who needs that?!!

Fairylea · 23/02/2020 23:13

Nothing is a waste of money if you love it.

SkiingIsHeaven · 23/02/2020 23:19

@Fairylea absolutely agree with you.

Lweji · 23/02/2020 23:20

If you love it and can afford it.

I have both copies of artists I love and original cheaper pieces.
Can't afford expensive.

ShatnersWig · 23/02/2020 23:20

I have one limited edition print of an artist who has since died. It's value has increased considerably and it wasn't overly expensive (£50) when bought 20 years ago. I adore it.

I have one original oil painting, cost £500. My grandmother left me a small sum of money and I bought a painting. I wanted something special which I would always have to remind me of her. I saw this, it's of a place she loved and where I went with her once. It's my most prized possession, I look at it every day. I don't care if it was only worth ten quid in three years.

Canyousewcushions · 23/02/2020 23:21

For me it's brilliant value- if I spent £1000 on an original artwork which I totally loved, and looked at it every day for 20 years, it works out at 13p per day. I have never spent that much on a single piece, and also bought the bits I did before I was 30 (and before nursery fees hit my finances!!).... so actually I'd hope to get more like 50 years of viewing pleasure out of them.

Positively bargainous compares with smoking or drinking a few bottles of wine each week.

PrettyyGood · 23/02/2020 23:22

I have 4 pieces - a Peter Smith, Bob Dylan, Romero Britto and Nigel Humphries. The Dylan was by far the most expensive at 6k but bought as a treat after a tough time and crucially, because we love it.

I just buy what I love and that's the best way

Canyousewcushions · 23/02/2020 23:24

(And I have no idea what any of my peices are now worth. I bought them because they bring me great pleasure, not as monetary investments)

HeronLanyon · 23/02/2020 23:26

Well of course it can be a good investment if you buy with profit in kind and know what you are doing and can afford to be in the bracket where money can be made.

I have art some bought some inherited. Almost all loved which is why I have it. Am about to send one painting to auction house who have accepted it for catalogue (never have before) as was inherited and siblings and I do not want. Can’t imagine ever doing this with anything else I have (which I love) unless I needed to for financial reasons.

FlamingoAndJohn · 23/02/2020 23:30

The problem is if they become worth too much then you have insure them separately etc.

My mother bought a work by an artist who went on to be massively famous. It’s in the loft.

buckeejit · 23/02/2020 23:40

I have some bits that I love - mostly donated by pil but one piece that they bought us for a Christmas gift after asking them to bid for it on our behalf at their local auction. It's above my head now & we adore it, though it's a modern abstract that I wouldn't have thought either of us would like but fits in great to the space & is v calming. A much more wonderful gift than a couple of expensive bottles of perfume & we will always have it as a gift from them.

If I won the lottery I'd buy some land, then some art.

Meckity1 · 24/02/2020 07:52

I think it depends on what you call art. If it's a fancy piece by a well known artist, I'm getting a print. It's too expensive to buy and insure.

On the other hand, I've got some lovely bits and bobs from eBay. You go to Art then painting then original and then see what pops up.

www.ebay.co.uk/b/Original-Art-Paintings/551/bn_79285940

I got a gorgeous watercolour someone had done, not very large, for under a tenner which sits on my wall and cheers me up every time I see it. I daresay the small amount I paid barely covered the materials, but it is original, it is beautiful, I hope it gave positive feed back to the artist and I am blessed.

(there is some seriously bad stuff on there as well, you have to be prepared to scroll through some stuff for the nice bits)

Or you can have a look at some of the local artists on Facebook. I've got some truly lovely, delicate stuff from K T Sutcliffe.

www.facebook.com/kjsutcliffe.art/

You are getting a thing of beauty and supporting the creator. So I think that buying art is not a waste of money

CeeceeBloomingdale · 24/02/2020 07:55

I buy things I like so I can look at them. I don't consider any art I own to be an investment, it's purely for me to enjoy.

BarbaraofSeville · 24/02/2020 08:42

I agree with the 'if you like it's it's not a waste of money' as long as you can afford it, but I know what you mean.

I've seen a piece of art for sale locally, that I really like, can afford, means something to me and would go well in my house, but I'm put off by the fact that I have no idea whether the price (£700 ish) is reasonable.

It probably is because it's something that is time consuming to produce - it's not one of those things where someone has literally thrown paint on a canvas and the value/art worthiness is all about the bollocks story about what it represents.

I am leaning towards thinking 'fuck it, I'll buy it' but first I'd have to investigate whether insuring it would be an issue.

Original poster
MonsteraCheeseplant · 24/02/2020 21:46

'if you like it's it's not a waste of money'

I like a £2500 painting. Am looking for a cheaper substitute. I can afford it, but i'm not sure I can justify it.

OP posts:
SpaceDinosaur · 24/02/2020 22:00

Can you afford it? You say yes.

Justify it? To whom?

If it's beautiful to you and will sing to you when you look at it then it's self care as much as art.

£2.5k towards a holiday is nice but lasts a short period. Art lasts forever.

Original poster
MonsteraCheeseplant · 25/02/2020 12:49

Justify it to myself! It's a lot of money but it's actually from a tax refund pot that would otherwise just go into savings.

OP posts:
buckeejit · 25/02/2020 13:30

I would. If you love it you will look at it every day. Throw 20p or whatever into a pot everytime you look it to 'recoup some savings

Poetryinaction · 25/02/2020 14:22

I thought art was one of the safest investments?

Original poster
MonsteraCheeseplant · 25/02/2020 16:01

I thought art investments were generally not good investments unless they're literally Picasso.

OP posts:
BarbedBloom · 25/02/2020 16:08

A lot of our art is original. DH studied fine art at University and a fair few exchanged pieces at the end of the course. One of the people concerned is now big in the art world, but we won't sell it as we love it. We also have a few sculptures.

We buy what we love. I saw a piece hanging in a gallery a while back and fell in love with it. I had to put it on my credit card at the time but have never regretted that. I also remember dragging the giant thing back on the train too and smile when I look at it.

I don't think about art as an investment but I suppose we have been lucky with a few things simply because the artist wasn't well known at the time. I once went to a famous persons home and they showed me their room with a lot of valuable art. I asked him why he didn't hang it, but he explained to maintain its value he had to store it in a certain way. I asked how often he looked at it and he said, almost never (except to show off to young women as I was then). That seemed a bit sad to me somehow, maybe because I know so many artists who imagine people enjoying their work, not locking it away in a room never to be seen.

Bluntness100 · 25/02/2020 16:21

If you love it ans can afford it, then buy it.

I’ve learned never to buy art just to fill a space on a wall. It doesn’t matter how much it costs, if you love it you’ll always love it. You need to wait to find something you love, and you’ve found it,

When I was mid twenties I impulse bought a black and white charcoal original of a woman, full length portrait, so a very big piece of art, with only a blanket round her waist, and her arms up (so only a hint of boob).

For some reason as I was walking past the little art shop it struck me. It didn’t cost much, and I’m not sure it’s worth much now, but at the time it was quite extravagant, but For some reason I just loved it,,my husband was a bit dumbfounded.

And in the last twenty odd years that pic has come with us whenever We have moved home, and I love it as much now as I did that day walking past the little art shop.

I also have art work from my husbands parents home, hanging, I don’t really like them, landscapes, but he does and they mean something to him. I have some from my grandparents, that we both love, quirky originals, their taste is more like mine.

We also recently bought a massive antique oil painting for our living room. It was quite expensive, but I was looking for something to fill the space for ages and ages, and refused to buy anything unless I loved it, not just to fill the space, and saw this in an antique shop and bought it on the spot (after some haggling)

So if you love it, buy it, you’ll always have it and you’ll always love it.