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Masterworks

Verified

4.7

(6 Reviews)

Art

Art investment platform with $60M+ in net proceeds distributed back to investors.
Join 500K investors

Snapshot

Open to US Investors

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200+ Employees

The team brings together experience across art, finance, and technology.

10%-25%

Target Return

Contemporary art has beat the S&P over the past 25 years

Moderate

Liquidity

Buy and sell shares on the secondary market.

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200+ Employees

The team brings together experience across art, finance, and technology.

How You Earn

Growth

Invest From

$null

Invest in

Fine Art

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200+ Employees

The team brings together experience across art, finance, and technology.

Open to US Investors

Top Perks

Blue-chip art prices have appreciated 11.5% annualized (1995-2023).

Contemporary art has outpaced the S&P 500 by 64% over the past 28 years.

Art has outperformed gold and stocks during past inflationary periods (1973-81).

From past offerings, investors secured 20%, 31%, and 32% total net returns, among others.

Can I trust Masterworks?

Masterworks is backed by notable firms like Tru Arrow Partners, Galaxy Interactive and Left Lane Capital.

400+

Offerings

$900M+

Amount Raised

900k

# of user signups

Offerings

400+

Amount Raised

$900M+

# of user signups

900k

400+

Offerings

$900M+

Amount Raised

900k

# of user signups

Overview

Deloitte reports the total value of privately held art and collectibles at an estimated $2.1 trillion. According to the Masterworks all art index, contemporary art has outpaced the S&P 500 by 64% from 1995-2023. 

 

Masterworks is the largest platform for buying and selling shares in masterpieces by Banksy, Basquiat, Warhol, Picasso, KAWS, and more. By investing in fine art, you can build a diversified portfolio that has been shown to appreciate during high inflation periods.

 

Masterworks was founded in 2017 by internet entrepreneur and art collector Scott Lynn with the mission to “make art investable”. As of 2024, Masterworks is valued at over $1 billion and is one the largest art buyers in the world with over $700M of artwork acquired.

Low Correlation

0.12 correlation to the S&P 500

Equity

Shares in securitized artworks

Pros & Cons

The Good
  • Platform provides good investment research on artworks and the contemporary art market

  • Masterworks handles the entire process of finding, purchasing and storing artwork

  • Artwork is insured and stored in secure facilities

  • Easily trade shares on the secondary market with no transaction fees

The Not-So-Good
  • 1.5% annual management fee and 20% commission on future profits

  • You must conduct a phone interview to finalize your account

  • There may be a waitlist to join

Masterworks Track Record

278+

Artwork Purchased

From Banksy to Picasso

729K

Members

29% annualized return

$800M+

AUM

Built up over 5 years

Visit Website

Returns Calculator

Calculate how much you can earn by investing in Fine Art. Results vary based on the investment amount, term, and other conditions.

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%
years
$
Frequency
Monthly

Invested

$7,000

Projected Fees

$429.68

Projected return

$2,174.46

Value after fees

$9,174.46

How it Works

Here’s how Masterworks lets you buy shares in modern masterpieces.

Here’s how Masterworks lets you buy shares in modern masterpieces.

1

Masterworks chooses the artists

Their research team uses proprietary data to find artist markets with the most momentum.

2

Masterworks buys the art

Their acquisitions team buys the artist’s best available work at an attractive price.

3

Masterworks securitizes the artwork

Masterworks turns the artwork into an SEC-qualified offering that you can buy fractional shares in.

4

You hold long-term or trade your shares

You can wait 3-10 years until Masterworks sells the painting, or sell your shares on the secondary market.

How You
Make Money

Masterworks holds artworks for 3-10 years to maximize returns and then sells them to auction houses, private collectors and galleries.

Once Masterworks sells a painting, you receive your share of the proceeds (minus selling expenses). If you’d like to exit your investment sooner, you can sell your shares on the secondary market with $0 in transaction fees. 

However, there’s no guarantee that the secondary market will have enough liquidity.

Primary Sale

Masterworks sells the painting

Secondary sale

You sell shares on the secondary market

How Masterworks
Makes Money

Masterworks charges a 1.5% management fee per year, taken as equity in the artwork and not cash from investors.

Management fee covers the cost of:

  • Professional storage
  • Insurance
  • Administration
  • Regulatory filings
  • Annual appraisals

 

Finally, Masterworks charges 20% commission on future profits generated by art sales.

1.5%

Fee Per Year

This covers storage, insurance and other costs.

20%

Future Profits

Masterworks is aligned with investor interests to maximize returns.

Meet the Team

Masterworks has 100+ employees with experience across art, finance, and technology. Masterworks founder, Scott Lynn, is an early Internet entrepreneur who made his name in the online advertising space.

Over the years, Scott became an internationally-recognized collector of contemporary art by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning and more—founding Masterworks in 2017 to democratize access to art investing.

Masterworks

4.7

(6 Reviews)

Art

Here's what you'll need to invest in Masterworks.

US and non-US residents
Non-accredited and accredited investors
Over 18+ years of age
US and non-US residents
Non-accredited and accredited investors
Over 18+ years of age

Reviews

4.7
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Love it!

Solid investing platform

FAQs

Masterworks is the largest platform for buying and selling shares in fine art. They enable you to build a portfolio of works by artists like Bansky, Basquiat, Warhol, Picasso, and KAWS. Masterworks offers fractional shares in fine art, which you could hold onto as a store of value or actively trade on their secondary market.

Yes, Masterworks is a legitimate company founded in 2017 by internet entrepreneur and art collector Scott Lynn, who also serves as the company's CEO. Masterworks' mission is to "make art investable" and does so by securitizing art (to register it with the SEC) and offering investors fractional ownership in the underlying asset. Investors make money when Masterworks sells the artwork and returns the profits to them, but they also have the option to sell their shares to other investors.

Yes, Masterworks has sold over six paintings and typically aimed for a net average return of 29%. For instance, Masterworks offered Albert Oehlen's Doppelbild to investors at a value of $1.887 million and sold the painting for $2.7 million, netting an annualized return of 36.2% over 354 days. The highest net annualized return investors made on Masterworks was 39.9% with George Condo's Staring Into Space (532 days) and the lowest was 9.2% from Claud Monet's Coup de Vent (631 days).

Buying art from Masterworks has historically proven to be a good investment. Despite their short track record, fine art is inversely correlated to the S&P 500 and most other asset classes, according to data from the Artprice Global Index and other indices. Between 1995 to 2000, contemporary art made annualized returns of 14%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 4.5%. Between 2007 and 2009, the S&P 500 fell by 57%, but art auction prices only dipped 27%. From 2018 to 2021, the art market slightly outperformed the S&P 500 at 35.8% compared to 32.9%.

Masterworks enables you to invest in art by turning each artwork into its own limited liability company and selling you Class A shares. Masterworks offerings are Pursuant of the United States Securities Act of 1933, Regulation A, and are registered in the state of Delaware. This means paintings on Masterworks are registered securities, similar to stocks and ETFs, and are entitled to the same protections under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.