Why invest in Art?

• Convergence of global capital markets is driving the search for alternative, uncorrelated investment assets and there is increasing interest among serious investors in fine art as an asset class.
• For a favourable risk-return profile it is suggested that a 10 Year investment portfolio has an 10% asset allocation to fine art.
  Barclays Capital ‘Equity Gilt Study 2005’
• “many wealthy investors ... now see paintings and [other categories of art] as viable vehicles for diversifying their portfolios given the low correlation between art prices and ... stocks, bonds and real estate”.
  2007 Merrill Lynch CapGemini World Wealth Report
• “Returns on art are not correlated with returns on shares. Owning both art and stocks can reduce the volatility of a portfolio by up to 20% while returning about the same amount.”.
  Michael Moses (NYU Stern Professor), Economist.com, 22 February 2005
• Tangible asset-backing and a fixed supply of artworks limits the downside risk of art investment - “a good Canaletto will always be a good Canaletto”.
• The demand for hard information about the investment performance of art has led to the emergence of formal market indices, including those from Mei-Moses and Art Market Research that make it possible to monitor the investment performance of art portfolios, and compare the results with the corresponding performance of traditional asset classes.