Why buy art?

Why buy art? Three simple words with complex answers. A lot depends on who is buying it.

There is a fantasy collection game – what would you put on your walls if you could pick from the whole of art history? My fantasy collection includes a Mattise, a self-portrait of an old Rembrandt, an early Picasso; but some people actually play this game. This is an extreme end of the art world. Art buying for these super rich people or organisations is only a tiny answer to the ‘why buy art’ question. In this world the price of a painting is set by what the richest person on the planet will pay, which is how much spare cash they can muster. For them buying paintings, as well as being an indication of good taste, is also the physical manifestation of their wealth and power. The Medicis didn’t hang their children’s finger painting… not in public anyway. Art buying for most of us is a more personal thing and no less engaging.

People also buy art because it adds to their everyday lives. They come home at night or wake up in the morning and engage with an image. It might be an image which means something to them – a mountain they’ve climbed many times – or some more esoteric quality in the work. Normally it is the combination of both. But it is these esoteric qualities that the most experienced collectors are highly attuned to. One confidently drawn line or well-placed colour has an almost spiritual dimension. It can lift us up. ‘The world is not so complex’ it says ‘if you know how to look at it.’ The same is true about humour in a work of art. A cryptic Mona Lisa smile, the tiny dot of paint that suggests everything about light and form, can hit us hard and penetrate deeply. There are many ways living with a painting can enhance our lives, even make us better people, and all of these are a valid reason to buy art.

The third reason for buying a painting is a more practical one… money. Art can be a cracking good investment. Last year someone bought a Gerald Laing painting for £60,000 and sold it this year for £380,000. There can’t have been many better buys in 2011. Investing in a painting, however, is more complex than this basic dream. Very few works bought today will be handled by Christie’s white-gloved handlers tomorrow. Most will not make the cost of a small house, but some do. The dream remains, and it rewards some, often the most devoted. After fifteen years running an established gallery, I am still not certain what the future will bring, but the white-gloves are waiting to pick up the chosen works. But that is not the most important financial factor in buying a painting. Most find it a joy, and one of the few completely ethical ways of spending money. Almost all the cost of a painting is spent locally, by good people who make the world a better place. And some of them will be remembered in a hundred years. Could you say that if you put your savings in a bank or oil company? And how much do shares really add to your everyday life?

Kilmorack Gallery and a show of its collectible Scottish art. In this
photo scuptures are by Helen Denerley and paintings are by Peter White.