Warren Buffett dismissed art as a bad investment nearly 60 years ago. France could have made $1 quadrillion if it had invested instead of buying the Mona Lisa, he said. Buffett described investing, valuing and building businesses, and Berkshire Hathaway as art. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while

In the fall of 2018, a Banksy work, “Love is in the Bin,” sold for US$1.4 million. Now the original buyer has put the work up for sale, and it’s expected to fetch over $5 million – that would amount to a return of more than 250% on the original investment. What if, instead of

Art has a long history as a transactable asset, with marketplaces and auction houses like Sotheby’s having existed for more than 275 years. Art has always demonstrated long-standing cultural significance and aesthetic qualities, which allows it to be universally appreciated and desired around the world. It is also broadly understood that art could be beneficial

Fine art investing has typically been the forte of people who turn left when they get on a plane while the rest of us turn right. And for good reason. Investing in art isn’t just about showing your friends how sophisticated you are, it’s also a fine place to park some cash. Any number of

Is art a good investment? The recent mega-auctions in New York have brought out the siren song that art often outperforms other asset classes like real estate, while the Wall Street Journal declared that art achieved a 10.6 percent return in 2018 based on Art Market Research’s Art 100 Index, outpacing all other categories. One

Dmitry Rybolovlev thought he’d been ripped off when he paid the Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier $127.5 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi in 2013, once he learned Bouvier had paid between $75 and $80 million for it. But after Salvator Mundi’s sale in November at Christie’s for $450.3 million, it was hard to

CNN  —  Amid strong demand and skyrocketing prices, contemporary African art is increasingly attracting the attention of investors worldwide. While that might irk the purest at heart among some art collectors, it is a testament to the growing interest that African artists have spurred on the international markets. British auction house Bonhams has seen average

This article is more than 6 years old. Speculation and investment are two delicate subjects in the art market, but they are hardly novel topics. In a market celebrated for breath-taking prices for branded art trophies, art is seen as a potential hedge, an addition to an investment portfolio. There has been no shortage of

The fine art market continues to boom. It seems that every day, another auction record is set for “the highest price ever paid.” So what does that mean for the painting you bought to match your sofa a few years back? It may increase in worth, or it may be as salable as your kid’s