Buying art: Where emotions and rationality collide



The Emotional Side of Buying Art The last 20% of the sale is certainly emotional. If you buy at a fair, which I've done once or twice, there's almost certainly a FOMO effect at work. There are lots of people buying things, there are lots of red stickers appearing on works that are getting sold, all sort of taunting you: If you don't buy that thing, someone else could. The hype is definitely real. But this is where the invisible rational pre-work comes in handy. You can run through those questions in your mind:

  1. Is this within striking distance of the budget we discussed?

  2. Will this fill the space on my empty wall?

  3. Does this genre / style fit everything else? Since you've already come up with a framing around each of them, you can just answer quickly in your mind. Yes / No. If you come up with yes'es all around, you're good to go. Of course, there are likely a million other questions you might be wondering about, as well. Things like: Will this piece be an investment over time? Will this artist gain in popularity? Will my husband like this? Are there other works at different places that might be better? Those are all good questions to ask. But the only trouble is -- unless you've already done pre-work around those questions, you're not going to be able to answer them in the moment.  They are unproductive and will only hold you back from being able to make a decisive decision. The first time I bought a piece of art at a fair, I was so nervous that I had to call my brother to talk me off the ledge. Don't get me wrong: It's stressful. Even this week I was so nervous that I drank an entire glass of red wine after the purchase. But I know now that, assuming I've done the rational pre-work, I need to trust myself with an emotional decision for the last 20%. And I'm so glad I did.


Loading...
highlight
Collect this post to permanently own it.
Hard Mode First logo
Subscribe to Hard Mode First and never miss a post.