WHY BUY ART?

WHY BUY ART?
By Margaret Danielak  © 2017 
 
Over the weekend I shared a glass of wine with one of my frequent art buyers, a woman with investments who not only has a passion for wine, but collecting contemporary traditional art.  Her collection includes the work of some very well known western painters, as well as several of the artists I represent. The question “Why buy art?” came up in the conversation and made me think about why buying art, especially right now, is so important. 


There are many reasons why people buy art. Some fall in love with the work and cannot imagine living one moment longer without it. In fact, my great joy as an art rep and alternative gallery owner is to bear witness to that moment when someone falls in love with a new work of art and commits to it. 

 
​Others buy fine art because it solves a design problem for them. The acquisition adds visual interest to their décor and enhances their living or working environment. Their art reflects their taste and personality and helps define who they are.

Mainly, art makes a house a home.  When my father, the illustrator and landscape painter, Robert G. Stevens died, I was put in charge of cleaning out my parents’ home in Santa Fe.  After packing up the contents, the very last things I removed were my father’s paintings. With everything else gone the house looked empty but was still their home until I took down his artwork. The effect was devastating. Their home became, in a single moment, just a house to be rented out. All the warmth and all of my father’s unique energy - 55 years of creating art and 78 years of living was gone.
 
So why buy art? 

​After all, we can’t eat it nor can we sit on it. The answer: Because now, more than ever, with all of the turbulence in the world, we need to surround ourselves with the unique warmth that only fine art can bring.

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