MasterworksVerified
Verified
Snapshot
Open to US Investors
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.
200+ Employees
The team brings together experience across art, finance, and technology.
How You Earn
Growth
Invest From
$null
Invest in
Fine Art
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
1B+
# of user signups
Offerings
400+
Amount Raised
$900M+
# of user signups
1B+
400+
Offerings
$900M+
Amount Raised
1B+
# 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
Returns Calculator
Calculate how much you can earn by investing in Fine Art. Results vary based on the investment amount, term, and other conditions.
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.
Press Coverage
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.
Recent Activity
Who’s Investing In Art?
Masterworks
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
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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.