What Is Blue-Chip Art and How to Start Investing in 2023

There are traditionally two audiences for blue-chip art: the rich and the very rich. Most people who view art for its beauty, spectacle, or history are usually doing so behind a velvet ribbon or glass pane. Paintings that lived in galleries and museums were usually owned only by a handful of elite patrons who could afford them.

Blue-chip art is widely recognized artwork that not only sells for the highest prices at auction but also consistently increases in value over time. The term is used to distinguish art that's considered a relatively safe bet in the world of art investing.

The term 'blue chip' is borrowed from trading lingo referring to a stock in a well-established profitable company. This term is not traditionally used in the world of contemporary art and is actually an indicator to pure collectors that the person using it is more interested in investing and profiting from the secondary market than simply purchasing art that they enjoy.

However, certain parallels can be drawn between the best-performing contemporary artists and the best-performing publicly traded companies (blue-chip stocks) from an investor's perspective. Just like companies, artists are judged by their past performance. For example, if a painter's work has provided stable increasing returns in the past, then investors might consider them to be 'blue chip' and may be more inclined to buy their subsequent paintings.

To determine whether blue chip art is a good investment we must look at the big picture. This means understanding the downsides of art as an investment before praising its benefits. First, the art market is largely unregulated, and the investment risks are similar to commodities in that they're purely speculative. Secondly, making quick profits on blue-chip art is difficult because it is a highly illiquid asset class. 

Finally, there are unique risks that are inherent to blue-chip art investing. One is that art is a heterogeneous product, meaning that no two pieces are alike. In turn, there is a higher risk of fraud or forgery when it comes to art compared to other asset classes. As a result of this and a lack of regulations, art investors traditionally need to have high levels of expertise in order to make profitable blue-chip art investments. 

That said, investing in blue-chip art has never been easier or more accessible than it is now. What's more, blue-chip art can provide stable, competitive returns while helping you diversify your investments outside of the stock market. Here's why.

Art investment goes mainstream

Blue-chip art is no longer strictly an alternative investment because it steadily became more mainstream as market forces grew more influential than art critics. Financial institutions have increasingly recognized blue-chip art as among the rare collectibles asset class over the past couple of decades. Contemporary art has outperformed stocks as well as investment-grade bonds as an asset and is even outpacing the broader art market.

Blue-chip art vs stocks

The data implies that contemporary artworks generated nearly $24 billion in 20 years, but just how well they did over this period compared to the stock market can be illustrated by art indices like the ArtPrice Index.

ArtPrice uses data from thousands of auction houses and weighs the performance of the top artists over the past five years, with annual adjustments to the top artists based on their relevance. According to their index, the best-performing artists outperformed the S&P 500 by a margin of over 250%.

Contemporary art's lack of correlation with other markets makes it one of the best instruments for portfolio diversification. For instance, blue-chip art was one of the least affected assets by the 2009 recession. Despite increasing attention from mainstream investors, blue-chip art investments are still alternative in the sense that they are an excellent hedge against traditional financial assets and inflation. Even with all the speculation, blue-chip art may still be one of the most stable assets in your portfolio.

Investing in physical blue-chip art often requires maintenance and incurs storage costs, which can add up. While investors can profit by lending out works to galleries and museums, that's a lot to worry about in addition to choosing an artist, finding an initial painting to invest in, and paying the prohibitive costs associated with contemporary art on top of that.

But art investing is experiencing a renaissance thanks to fractional investing. retail investors now have unprecedented access to works by artists like Banksy and Picasso since alternative investing platforms like Masterworks and Mintus hit the scene.

The stock market for blue-chip art

Masterworks is a platform that lets anyone invest in pieces of blue chip art as an underlying asset. Investors can buy shares of pieces by famous modern and contemporary artists at auction, and Masterworks stores and maintains the pieces in exchange for a fee. Masterworks also facilitates a secondary market where investors can buy and sell their shares, thus making liquidating assets and taking profits much easier.

Investors who are leaning toward culturally relevant contemporary art should consider the platform Public. Public is an investment platform that specializes in collectibles like trading cards, streetwear fashion, as well as contemporary and digital art that speaks to the zeitgeist.

Public allows investors to buy shares in rare sneakers, vintage Marvel comics, and even popular non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With their selection of one-of-a-kind works by high-profile artists like Banksy and KAWS, Public is a great platform to carry out a clout-based investment strategy.

Mintus is the perfect platform for art investors who are looking for a more secure and regulated way to invest in blue-chip art. Mintus lets investors get in on the action and become part-owners of some of the most sought-after artworks from world-class artists.

Mintus is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K. and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the U.S., so investors can rest assured that their investments are safe and secure. Plus, Mintus will even hold the artwork in a free-port warehouse for 2 to 7 years, so investors can sit back and relax while their investments appreciate in value.