Art investment at the Edinburgh Art Fair

Next month,  12,000 people will be turning up at the Edinburgh Art Fair and, while some of them will just be looking for something pretty , others will be looking to make an investment.“As an investment, the value of art can go up spectacularly,” says Edinburgh arts impresario Richard Demarco. “If it’s good art, you can be sure its value will go up and be unstoppable over a period of about ten to 20 years. The lucky few might find tomorrow’s Jack Vettriano in amongst the art on display.

While Vettriano’s painting The Singing Butler set a record for a Scottish artist in 2004 when it sold for £744,800, Demarco advises those serious about an art investment to avoid anything too easy on the eye.
A collector bought an abstract painting called Yellow and Red Circles by Patrick Heron in 1966 for £450 and later sold it for £8000. It  sold again at auction for £37,000.

“I have, in my life, never followed the rule that because I have a particular liking for something, that means it’s good,” says Richard. “You’ve got to think, maybe it’s a fault in me that I like that, or maybe I’m liking it for the wrong reasons because I just don’t know enough.