Ready to Invest in Fine Art With Masterworks, Yieldstreet or Noyack Fine Art? Here’s What You Need to Know About Successful Art Dealers & Collectors.

David Antonio Cruz

According to Artnet, total sales of fine art reached $15.9 billion in 2022, a four percent decline from the $16.4 billion generated in 2021, which is still the second highest annual total since 2018. How big could this market be, properly scaled as a private investment marketplace? Time will tell. 

Whatever the number will be, the quality of curation and the margins over time will make winners and losers of investors.

Every investor needs to do their own due diligence, but if you’re just getting started in fine art, do not fail to learn from the industry legends who have been generous enough to share their insights and experience. This is a very unique marketplace.

The Most Successful Art Dealers and Collectors

While every investor must do their own research, it is always important to educate yourself about the market as a whole. Toward that end, there are three reports linked below that illustrate and assess each of three different types of investment that define the modern art market outside of the usual methods.

Here is a brief list of the top players in this space over the last 120 years:  

Joseph Duveen: Duveen was an English art dealer who was active in the early 20th century. He was famously quoted on the topic of his own success, “Europe had plenty of art and America had plenty of money." With clients like Henry Frick, William Randolph Hearst, Samuel H. Kress, Andrew Mellon, and John D. Rockefeller, he would certainly know. Rather than simply ascribing to the buy-low-sell-high maxim, he believed that value effected greater value in art. Duveen’s favorite saying, “You can get all the pictures you want at $50,000 apiece, that’s easy. But to get pictures at a quarter of a million apiece—that wants doing!” Duveen illustrates the importance of perceived value that still drives the art world today. 

Peggy Guggenheim: Guggenheim was an American art collector who was active in the 20th century. She is best known for her collection of modern art, which included works by Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky. There is an insightful documentary on Peggy but her most telling quote is one that is directed, seemingly, toward the novice collector or investor, “I took advice from none but the best. I listened, how I listened! That’s how I finally became my own expert.”  

Dmitry Rybolovlev: Rybolovlev is a Russian billionaire who is a major collector of modern and contemporary art. His collection includes works by Picasso, Monet, and Cézanne. Currently embroiled in a number of legal battles related to his collection, including a related case against Sotheby’s in New York involving his former art dealer, Rybolovlev is a real-time example of the potential pitfalls that complicate investment in this space, and the need for diligent intermediaries as well as diversification. 

Debra Force: The founder and owner of Debra Force Fine Art, a gallery in New York City, is a major collector of modern and contemporary art; her collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, and Warhol. The gallery offers topflight consultative services to private collectors and institutions including buying, selling, and appraising work with a list of dozens of museum clients.

Steven A. Cohen: Cohen is an American hedge fund manager who is a major collector of modern and contemporary art. His collection is famously valued north of a billion dollars and includes works by Picasso, Giacometti, and Duchamp. He also purchased the leading auction house for baseball cards last year, diversifying his own footprint in the world of collectibles. 

These are just a few of the many successful art dealers and collectors since the turn of the last century. These individuals have played a major role in shaping the art world, their collections continue to inspire and amaze people around the world.

The Future of Art & Collecting

Like so many markets, once a domain for enthusiasts and the wealthy, art is well on its way to becoming a democratized space for the fractional ownership crowd. While private ownership will always be the pastime of the elite, everyday investors can own a piece of the art world now. 

Yieldstreet offers shares of diversified art portfolios of blue-chip masterpieces at the price of common shares of most any commodity, even offering dividends. 

Masterworks offers us the opportunity to purchase fractional shares of individual works of art, which they secure and store indefinitely. Investors profit when pieces appreciate and eventually sell on the open market. 

NOYACK Fine Art (NFA.01) has taken an innovative approach by partnering with artists who are co-investors creating legacy for these artists. In return, they provide access to highly sought after artworks of theirs at the same prices offered to their dealers. And each NFA portfolio is curated thematically with their first offering with a  $4M starting value highlights BIPOC artists titled “The New Canon”.