Everything You Need To Know About Buying Paintings Online
For art lovers all over the world, the Internet has made the world a better place by creating a gigantic art gallery that can be browsed 24 hours a day, seven days a week without leaving home. The Internet is to art lovers what a candy store is to a kid; overwhelming and enticing.
From the buyer’s perspective, the Internet has made art available to every one. The Internet has not led to the demise of street galleries but rather, street galleries have embraced the web as a method of gaining wide exposure for the artwork they exhibit and sell. Today, buying paintings online has become the norm rather than the exception.
The Many Advantages of Buying Paintings Online
It takes all types…
No matter what genre of paintings you savor, you are going to find them online. The web provides the ideal platform for artists to display and sell their art directly rather than through galleries. The traditional method for an artist to sell was to consign their art to a gallery. Exclusive consignment precluded the artist from selling his work through any other channels.
It’s cheaper
The Internet has revolutionized the whole concept of buying and selling art. Buying paintings online direct from the artist eliminates the gallery “middleman” premium or consignment fees (usually around 15% of the cost of the painting). By avoiding the gallery costs, artists often sell at prices less that would be found for the same piece hanging in a gallery.
It’s more personal (believe it or not)
Another advantage to buying paintings online is the opportunity to communicate with the artist about their art. You can ask questions and hear the stories behind the work. When you buy from a street gallery you will most likely be dealing with a person that may know the art but not the personal stories the artist can provide. The ability to have communication with the artist adds a very personal touch to buying paintings online.
All the wonders of the world, at your fingertips
Galleries have joined the Internet revolution in a big way with online auctions and sales direct from their gallery websites. Wonderful gallery websites from all over the world offer art by some of the best painters in the world both modern and from the past. Buying paintings online has some real advantages as we have noted above:
- Buying paintings online is often less expensive than buying at a brick and mortar gallery.
- Buying paintings online allows the buyer to choose from all the paintings listed on the Internet rather than being limited by how many galleries they have the energy to visit.
- Browsing for paintings online is like taking a trip around the world without leaving the comfort of your home. Buying paintings online often offers the opportunity to contact the actual artist and learn the story behind the work to add a personal touch to the painting.
- Buying paintings online gives the buyer the chance to learn about artists they may otherwise never hear about. With all these advantages it is not difficult to understand why buying paintings online has become so popular.
Caveats to Buying Paintings Online
Not to dampen enthusiasm for online buying but there are some disadvantages that should be discussed before you get onto the internet to buy a painting. After all, anyone can create a website and call it an art gallery. All you have to do is browse online art galleries and you will quickly see that many of these sites deal in junk. These sites have no curator or jury; they lack selectivity and offer sub-standard paintings. The best practice is to deal only with those websites that promote the fact that they screen the art they offer.
Here are a few suggestions that will be helpful if you are considering buying paintings online:
Great tip: You will find that there are more edition paintings available online than original paintings. When you buy edition paintings, buy the lowest number print possible; numbers 10 and under being the most preferable.
