Art works have an undeniable aesthetic value, not only for the human need of creation but for its particular quality of transferability and ownership, considered as a solid product, of quality, and with a high cultural and social component.
Since the beginning, artworks have been used as changeable actives as for having a future nature component. Even now is possible to pay taxes by giving art works to the public treasury if they belong to the Spanish heritage. Furthermore, the current purchase by public collections and museums is a constant drain of great art pieces circulating in the market. As a conclusion we can say that the specific quality of a work, the consideration of a single piece and demand applies directly to its economic value. But a value of unicity and originality also exists, It´s what the experts (curators, critics, artists..) denominate soul.
What we see; it is an encrypt message traduced from our own experience, in that way each picture is different for each one of us. To understand the aesthetic sensitivity, we can base two parts, the quality define by the technique or pictorial excellence and the soul of each work transmitted to us, as Lucio Muñoz said:
“Es necesario dominar la técnica para poder reírse de ella” Therefore the dual vision in the acquisition of art, the economic and aesthetic connotation, allows the development of a consolidated international market. The boom of the sector is seen in the promotion of art in public and private institutions, as well as in the creation of international fairs all over the world: Basel, Frieze, biennials, ARCO, etc., Bringing professional and visitors from around the world. Also we have to note the auctions, where prices have reached recordsand have placed the art market in the forefront of the international debate. All this has led to the professional management of this type of assets, becoming part of diversification strategies for personal portofolios, including in them purchases of art works.
The current movement of the art market at global levels has an inevitably reflected in Spain. According to the National Spanish Bank; art is the third asset preferred by the Spanish to investment in.. A Collectors movement has been reflected both in the auction market, as in recent editions of the International Art Contemporary Fair,ARCO, a large sample of visitors and buyers assistance, challenges towards the consolidation of the spanish art market.
The graph shows how, according to the Mei Moses Art Index, art has been increasing its value over the years compared to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, which represents U.S. 500 companies. The MEI MOSES is a world-renowned index which includes all closing auction Price sales in the world.
We can see reflected in this graph de-correlation between financial market and the art market. If we look at the four major crises of the past 50 years we see that most of the cases are given art as a safe with the only exception of the 90's crisis, when Japan financial crisis got to emerge a massive offer of master pieces, this was a very important and unique fall in prices, which has not happened again.That’s why we can understand, how currently works that do go to auctions, are generally touched by high expectations, with a clear origin and some of them appear as a media phenomenon settled by a large collection with a good marketing base.
