A fun and thought-provoking article this morning about art financialisation, so many thanks (“Art’s beauty is in the eye of your accountant”, Opinion, December 8). Two lacunae occur to me that may already be happening; I am ignorant of the art market.
The first is museums devoted to art such as our National Gallery. I could see an ETF which actually owned the art with a long-term agreement with the gallery to curate, insure and display the art. The gallery could even release capital, say for new purchases, by selling existing stock.
The second is a market to rent art for personal or corporate display. This then starts to look a bit admire real estate with rents linked to capital values. The ETF or investment trust then starts to look even more interesting because it could have a revenue stream.
Combine the two points and the National Gallery could rent, rather than buy, some or all of its art. The other point would be that the National Gallery could be on the other side of the rental agreement and rent out the large stock of art it currently owns but does not display.
National Gallery as a form of art hedge fund?
PS Meier
Worcestershire, UK
