─ COLLECTOR'S GUIDEMost guides to collecting art are really guides to spending money confidently. This one isn't. It is eight essays on the quieter questions: how to look at a painting that isn't of anything, what actually sets its price, how to know you'll still love it in five years, and how to live with it once it's on your wall.
They are arranged the way a collector actually moves. First there is looking, before any question of buying arrives. Then the decisions themselves. Then the long life of the object once it's yours. Start anywhere. Nothing here is trying to sell you the next thing.
A Collector's Guide to Abstract Art
Looking
before there is any question of buying
How to Look at a Painting That Isn't Of Anything
The Paintings That Keep Opening
Buying
the decisions themselves
Some paintings are finished with you in a month. Others are still working three years later. The difference is visible on the first day, if you know where to look.
Nobody in the art world likes to explain pricing, which is precisely why it feels arbitrary. It isn't. Here is the arithmetic, stated plainly.
Is Abstract Art a Good Investment?
What You're Actually Buying
What to Ask an Artist
Living With
once it's yours