Van Weyenbergh Fine Art
Where to buy fine art to make a good investment, part 3, The Galleries
Updated: Jul 2, 2018
If you have read the introduction to the post, you understand that I am not eager to advise to buy in art galleries. But the truth is that all the big masters were sold once through galleries.
You have several type of galleries: 1- the gallery where usually you fear to enter because some snobbish face looks at the ignorant intruder you are. Well it is exaggerated of course; many important galleries have a friendly and amicable approach to a possible buyer. These are galleries were you will buy a Picasso or a Warhol. No need to say you need very, very deep pockets. If you buy a painting in those galleries, ( this is replacement value ) you will have to wait at least a decade to see your painting obtaining the fair market value.
See the difference between fair market value and replacement value
2- the gallery selling upcoming artists. There are 2 type of galleries selling the upcoming artists. You have by example the Jack Rutberg Gallery in Los Angeles. Jack Rutberg is following a lot of young artists, and has an eye to see what is good and will be successful. Those galleries are rare. Castelli Gallery, Gallery Carre Louis Stern gallery, etc The second type, are the galleries you can find in so many commercial plazas. I can’t qualify what they sell without being vulgar, that’s why I will abstain to make comments. But usually they sell artists who copy of important artists, or try to copy masters. Unfortunately these galleries are multiplying faster than rabbits.
3- the estate gallery or the antique dealer buying estates. These galleries always need to be visited because even in this 21th. Century where information is available on your phone there are still people who don’t take the time to verify what they sell. Don’t think that the antique dealer doesn’t verify what he sells, he usually knows what he sells. The trick is to visit this gallery when the dealer arrives with new merchandise, new fresh merchandise, that he did not had the time to analyze and verify that is the moment you need to act, fast but not too fast because he could think it is something important he sells.
info on auction houses, art foundations, art galleries