FX.co ★ Investing in art: expert advice

As with any other asset, the higher the risk, the higher the potential yield. Marina Sitnina, the head of Art Banking in Gazprombank, notes: "Modern art has more risks because only after some time it will be clear who got into the future that is not for everyone." So, the picture of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat "Untitled" was sold for $110.5 million at auction. For 23 years, the work has brought 25 000.63% per annum.

The head of the department for working with wealthy clients of VTB, Dmitry Breitenbikher, highlights 5 main criteria that affect the profitability of investments: 1. The artist's fame. 2. The best period in his work. 3. The plot which corresponds to the main style of the master and is characteristic of his work. 4. History of the work (where the work was exhibited, in what period, who was its owner). 5. Wall power, the degree of the work's recognition.

The general director of Ak Bars Gallery, Olga Valeeva, believes that the trends in art-investing are quite volatile, so first of all it is worth paying attention to the bright representatives of a certain style, creative association. Ratings of liquidity of artists are also helpful. Valeeva notes that among Soviet artists the works of Sergei Gerasimov, Alexander Daineka, Dmitry Nalbandian and others are always in demand at auction.

"Art objects are even less liquid goods than even real estate, so the investment horizon, as a rule, amounts to several years", says Natalya Kapinos, deputy chairman of the board of Absolut Bank. Today, loans against artworks can ease the situation with investment planning, but the loan will not solve the situation with liquidity. You can invest 20-30% of the portfolio in non-traditional assets in order to diversify it.

Thanks to the securitization of the art market, opportunities for investment also expanded. One of them is the possibility of buying a security or a share investment fund, where the asset will be, for example, Claude Monet's canvas. That is, without large investments, you can buy a small part of the works of great masters.

Head of L'Hermitage Rosbank Ulan Ilishkin warns about common mistakes of traders. The first and most common mistake is the hope to earn being a non-professional. The second misconception is the belief that you can buy something very valuable for a very small price. And the third one is the certainty that you know everything.

Andre Rogger, the head of the corporate collection of Credit Suisse, says that the art market in Russia is rich with strong artists, besides it is not yet as international as in many other countries which makes it promising for new artistic discoveries.

According to the report from Art Basel and UBS, last year the global art market declined by 11% to $56.6 billion. The United States, the UK, and China are considered the largest players. The Russia's share is less than 1%.

The most expensive canvas sold at an open auction was the painting "Women of Algiers (Version O)" by Pablo Picasso. In 2015, at Christie's auction in New York, the buyer paid $179.4 million for it.