The first question many people interested in purchasing a painting will put to a dealer is of course; ‘How much is it?’ A great many may throw in a few warm-up questions such as ‘What is the provenance of this painting?’ Both perfectly reasonable enquiries but not, in my opinion, the first question to ask.
Before buying a painting I recommend clients ask one question; “What do you collect?” At both the ‘low’ and the ‘high’ end of the art market it is common to see dealers dancing about in front of clients attempting to impress upon them the great importance of a particular painting or artist but I can assure you that to a great many only one thing is of importance and that is money. It is my experience that most art dealers have a limited interest in art history, know little about artists’ techniques and materials, and virtually nothing about conservation.
Naturally, as a professional art dealer (unless you were fortunate enough to have been born into money, as many at the top end of the market were) you are of course in business and need to make a profit. That said, a good art dealer will always become more excited talking about the paintings they sell than about the profits they make from selling them, and a sure sign that a dealer’s passion is profit rather than paintings is the lack of a personal collection. And before you ask, I collect 19th and early 20th century British and European oils and watercolours.
These days many of us have become used to buying from ill-informed sellers who know no more about the items they are selling than we do ourselves. That is frustrating enough when you are in B&Q or Home Depot, but no-one should settle for such a situation when buying a work of art.
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