Collector guides

How to choose original art for a restaurant, office or hotel: mood, scale and placement, durability, insurance, and whether to buy, place or commission.

Oil or acrylic? How the two paints differ, how to tell them apart on the wall, whether the medium affects value, and how to care for each.

Choose the right size painting for your wall: the two-thirds rule above sofas, a 145–152 cm hanging center, small works, diptychs and paper templates.

What price on request really means at an art gallery, why it happens, and how to ask for a price gracefully, including how holds and first refusal work.

Can you negotiate art prices? Can you pay in instalments? How gallery discounts and payment plans really work, and how to ask without getting it wrong.

Auction, dealer, private sale or online: the four ways to resell art, what each takes in fees, and the honest truth about reselling emerging work.

Provenance, AP, primary market, condition report, consignment, giclee. Every art term you will meet as a collector, defined plainly and without jargon.

Fairs are designed to overwhelm you. How to walk one, what to ask at a booth, when to decide, and how to get the work home in one piece.

Our honest position: do not buy emerging art as an investment. What the investment case actually requires, and why collecting is the better game.