Investment in painting.
Painting is one of the most attractive areas for investing and multiplying money. Painting does not lose value over time. On the difference between the purchase and sale price, you can earn thousands of percent even in a short period of time. For example, Vitriano’s «The Singing Butler» was bought for 3,000 euros and resold for one million three hundred thousand euros. That’s forty-three thousand percent. What other type of investment can bring such dividends? In the long run, painting is also a perfect, absolutely winning option. And there is an explanation for this.
Painting objects are unique single collectible items that are almost impossible to repeat. Even author’s copies, as a rule, differ significantly from the original. It is this factor that determines the investment attractiveness of painting. Agree, to be the owner of the only thing on the planet that no one else has is quite prestigious. The second issue is fame. The names of patrons are on a par with the names of artists. A patron who helps an artist is guaranteed a place in history.
But are all pictures of interest to investors? What genre do you prefer? There are different opinions on this topic. Obviously, the classics are always in favor. There is, of course, a demand for a fashionable author or a fashion trend, but this is not for long. The usual scheme suggests that you should only buy the work of a well-known, well-promoted author. This is true. However, not all purchased works will pass the test of time and make a profit. In addition to the popularity of the author, there are other criteria that can guarantee you a return on investment. Painting for a serious collection must meet certain requirements.
First, the technique of painting must provide a guarantee of preservation. Oil painting is best preserved. The masters of the Flemish school guaranteed the safety of their images for 300 years. That is why we still have the opportunity to admire their work and admire their unsurpassed craftsmanship. Secondly, the image should be easily perceived by the eye. To do this, the picture must be clear. This means that it must be done in accordance with the requirements of the academic classical school of painting. We are talking about the high technical skill of the artist.
How many modern artists can say that their level of mastery of painting technique corresponds to the level of Titian, Raphael or Rubens? This is not taught in modern art schools. In addition to technology, the genre and plot of the picture matters. In addition, there are several more specific criteria that guarantee that the picture will be in demand for a long time, but we will not talk about this here.
The task of any investment unit comes down to three simple principles — to preserve capital, increase it and minimize possible risks. Painting in this sense is an ideal object of investment and capital multiplication.
There are two ways to purchase paintings. The first involves buying from open sources — through auctions, through art stores, from private collections. The second way is to buy paintings directly from the hands of the artist. Each method has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of buying through auctions is that works and authors can be known, which guarantees the liquidity of the acquisition. However, the cost of such a painting will be high a priori, and there is a big risk that the painting may be fake or of inadequate quality.
The second method is attractive in that the authenticity of the painting will be confirmed by the artist himself and the purchase price in this case will be extremely low, and the quality of the work will be high, which reduces possible risks to almost zero. The main disadvantage is that contemporary artists are not well known (which is easy to fix with a competent advertising campaign), and it is quite difficult to find an artist with a high technical level of skill today. If we are talking about a long-term perspective, the quality of painting should be extremely high.
I am a painter. I live and work in Finland. Independently studied the Flemish technique of painting. Over the past twenty years, he has completed about a hundred works in the portrait genre. I can say that my level of technical skill corresponds to the norms of classical academic painting. I can create valuable works of art in the genre of portrait and figurative painting.
My painting is based on a multi-layered technique, which ensures the high quality and safety of the paintings. Similarly, Rubens, Titian and Raphael wrote. The cost of such paintings at auctions is incredibly high. Estimeyt may be in the region of 300 -500 thousand euros. It takes about a year to make a medium-sized painting of 100×150 cm. These are unique works of art, the customers of which can be famous collectors. It takes about six months to make an image of a person. On average, artists charge fifty thousand euros for a portrait in a multi-layer technique in oil on canvas measuring forty by fifty centimeters. There are about a dozen such artists in the world.
I feel a social obligation to the community in which I live. One way or another, I have to use my skills and create all the works of art that I can. Alone, without support, it is extremely difficult to do this. I want to focus on work, and for this I need help. I’m not interested in money and super profits. Only the bare necessities to not deal with issues of survival, but to do the work that I can do well. Ideally, I need several customers who would appreciate my work and pay their market value. Or I need a partner who would provide me with conditions for work. The gist of my proposal is as follows:
You provide me with conditions for work, I create a collection of paintings for further implementation. After the sale, the cost part is compensated, and the profit is divided among the participants. The parties invest approximately equally. How to evaluate my contribution? It takes twelve months to create a medium-sized painting. I invest my time. I will create a unique work of art, which will cost 300-500 thousand euros at the end. Or maybe 100 million euros. Even if we calculate only hourly work at an average rate of thirty six euros per hour, 36x8x24=6912 euros per month. Multiply by twelve months, we get 82944.
This is the equivalent of the time that I spend on work. You waste money, I waste time. In addition, I use the skills and abilities that I have honed over decades. This is a unique tool that is hard to overestimate. And you buy suitable real estate, the owner of which you remain until the end of the project. Real estate is likely to increase in value in a few years. So the risks are minimal.
If I work alone in the conditions that I have, I can create one painting a year. If I have a spacious room for work and living, where there is a workshop and a place for paintings, I can put the work on stream, and create several paintings a year. If there are several investors or patrons, the risks will be less. The project is designed for five years. For a workshop, you can buy a suitable house in Finland. The cost is 200 -500 thousand euros. At the end of the project, the house can be sold and the money returned. Or, alternatively, the costs will be offset from profits. The risk capital will be (5 years x 60,000 euros) three hundred thousand euros.
In five years, the collection will have at least a dozen large paintings with a minimum estimated value of 3-5 million euros. Or with an optimistic estimate of several tens of millions. It is easy to calculate the profitability: 5 million / 300 thousand and multiply by a hundred. We get 1666%. Pictures in any case will be of cultural and historical value. For the country it is prestige and fame. Cultural institutions themselves should be interested in finding skilled artists and encourage them to create meaningful works of art.