Starting an Art Collection

Contributing Writer: Keffie Lancaster, Associate ASID 

Our design team recently had the pleasure of escorting a client through the process of starting an art collection.  We met in West Palm Beach at the prestigious Wally Findlay Gallery for a weekend of learning and exploring the art world.  Their wonderful gallery represents many artists from the past and present and provides a wealth of knowledge.  We also had the pleasure of enjoying lunch by the pool at the famous

When building a collection there are numerous factors to consider.  First and foremost is budget.  Establishing an amount will allow you and your designer to find the right place to start.  You will also need to consider the amount of space you can allot to your collection as well as the style of artwork you will enjoy seeing every day.

In order to collect art intelligently, you have to master two basic skills. The first is being able to effectively research, evaluate and buy any single work of art that attracts you. The second is being able to choose each individual work in such a way as to form a meaningful grouping, a practice more commonly known as collecting.

What makes a great collector great is his or her ability to separate out specific works of art from the millions of pieces already in existence and assemble them in such a way as to increase or advance our understanding of that art in particular or of the evolution of art in general. In any mature collection, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts, the collector comes to be accepted as a respected authority and in exceptional cases, goes on to set the standards, determine the trends and influence the future of collecting for everyone.

The images we shared with you represent the beginnings of a collection we began this past month.  We chose to represent various styles and artists as well as price points.  The paintings here range in price from $18,000 – $298,000 and were selected based on size, color, subject and technique.  We hope you will find inspiration and start your collection!  Let us know what you are looking for and we will help you get started!

If you’re like most people, you know how to buy art on a piece-by-piece basis, but may not be all that accomplished at formulating a plan for making multiple acquisitions over the long haul, or in other words, building a collection. This is where we come in!  Teaming up with your designer as well as an art dealer gives you an instant advantage.  You can find art you like just about anywhere you look and in an incredible variety of subject matters, mediums and price ranges, but that can be confusing as well as intimidating. So how do you wade through it all and decide what direction to go in? How do you relate one purchase to the next? How do you organize or group your art together? How do you present it? And most importantly, how do you do all these things well?  You don’t have to answer these questions when you have a trained interior design team working on your side!