Your office is a direct reflection of your business. Creating the right ambience enhances your office environment. The addition of fine art helps elevate your client’s first experience with your surroundings. Introducing fine art into your office is very attainable and welcomes your clientele while providing an oasis of “small escapes” from the hectic, daily grind.
Do you remember your last museum visit, being in the presence of great works of art that moved, calmed, or inspired you? That same feeling can be created in your very own workplace. Tasteful art enhances your practice’s ambience and level of professionalism.
So where does one start?
The Art of Collecting Art for
When collecting art, there are questions: How do I acquire the necessary knowledge to make a prudent decision? How do I assess the value of the work I am acquiring? How do I verify the ethical reputation of the art gallery? How will it fit into my office or personal space?
Becoming a Collector
After almost a half a century of building museum quality collections for my clients, I have learned that the following five factors come into play when considering which artwork makes sense for your professional environment:
- Luck (where preparation meets opportunity) – Be on the right side of the fence when picking work
- Courage – Make decisions independent of popular belief and buying what ‘moves’ you
- Pocketbook – Decide a budget and have funds available when the time is right for acquisition
- Timing – Buy great works BEFORE they are acknowledged as great
- Eye – The ability to identify a great work of art
All the above become available when working with an ethical and knowledgeable art resource.
Step 1. Define Your Financial Comfort Zones
Know your budget. Fine art can be surprisingly attainable and a prudent investment. A basic entry work can start for as little as $4,000. “Conquest for Cosmos II1,” considered one of Dalí’s most important graphic works, can be acquired for less than $10,000. On the other end of spectrum, “Cranach le Jeune2,” Picasso’s most important color graphic, is priced at more than $1.2mm. Establish your budget in order to buy something you love. As your level of knowledge increases, you can always move up from there.
Step 2. Define What Work Speaks
Take some time to explore what appeals to you. Visit the great museums—The Louvre, The National Gallery – London or locally, the Norton Simon, The Getty, MOCA, or LACMA. Visit reputable galleries in Los Angeles or your city using the local gallery guide. Galerie Michael is known internationally for its leading edge in 17th- to 20th-Century masterworks, and mounting more than 18 annual exhibitions, including Picasso at 133 Years (Oct. 25 to Nov. 20) and In the forest of Fontainebleau: The Barbizon Painters (Nov. 22 to Dec. 31). Galerie Michael exhibits are learning opportunities with lectures, catalogues, and essays written by leading scholars and critics who support the gallery’s philosophy of acquiring fine art through ongoing education. You can also browse the artist
Step 3. Research the artist you are about to acquire
What are the most important periods of the artist’s work, then and now? What is the current and past price range of the works? What are some of the artist’s “monumental works,” and what quality works are currently available? Monumental works have maximum collector appeal because they are where a significant artist’s work makes a mark on the trajectory of art during current/past events. For example, Picasso was a genius who produced a number of monumental works (some still available today). One of these is “Guernica2,” his response to the Spanish Civil War.
Step 4. Assemble Your Team
To assist you with artist research and to identify ‘monumental works’ that suit your taste and budget, you need to find a reputable art dealer: a knowledgeable professional who is respected and ethical, and who has international credibility and reach. Galerie Michael’s model is built on posterity rather than prosperity, which means a long term view on working with collectors in “building museum quality collections, one work at a time.”
Step 5. Dealer Oversees Optimal Art Installation for you and your clients’ enjoyment
Galerie Michael specializes in architectural sizing, lighting, framing, and conservation, and will facilitate the entire delivery and installment process guaranteeing enjoyment for generations to come.
1To see Dalí’s Conquest for Cosmos II or Picasso’s “Cranach le Jeune, visit galeriemichael.com.
2Guernica is housed at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. museoreinasofia.es/en/collection/artwork/guernica
