If you ask me, collecting art should be exactly that. Collecting. Adding in things you really love, bit by bit, one by one. (Emphasis on one by one.)
I feel that way about my furniture too. I could never be that person who moves into a house and furnishes it all at once. Everyone is different, but that would feel so impersonal to me. I’ve bought some really nice things, one at a time. My Marcel Breuer Cesca chairs from the sixties. The robot bar replica I searched high and low for. My Design Within Reach platform bed and leather recliner. All purchased slowly, over the years . . . things I’ll never part with. Art should be collected in a similar manner.
You don’t need to have a giant budget, be a gazillionaire, or even know a lot about art to start collecting. You do need to want to learn, to be curious, and be willing to spend time looking and learning. It’s something I really enjoy doing, but it has taken a lot of time to get to a point where I would call myself a burgeoning collector or even someone who knows a little bit about art. Art is a rabbit hole. You learn about one artist and then find five more to get curious about. It can take over your life if you aren’t careful! I try to learn a little bit every day, even if it’s just reading one quick article or a quick google search.
This post was a big reader request, and it took me a long time to write (I started the draft in November). I really hope it’s helpful. To be honest, I feel a little bit pretentious writing about art. I’m still a beginner! I wanted to frame this post as about my own collection and the resources that have helped me learn more.
I purchased my first “nice” piece of art in 2015 (that was only ten years ago in my early thirties, when I started to have more disposable income): a Slim Aarons photo titled Monocled Miss. The photo shows a woman sitting upright in bed, looking like the pinnacle of ease and luxury. I loved the subtle pop of primary colors and found her inspiring: I wanted to channel a little bit of her glamour into my everyday life.
I was still living in my Murray Hill Studio and didn’t have the wall space for it, so it hung out in my closet for a little while, carefully tucked away, until I moved to Brooklyn. Back then, my gallery wall comprised mostly prints from Etsy that I’d framed myself and a couple of small Gray Malin pieces I’d saved up for (and also framed myself—professional framing was still alien to me). The Slim Aarons piece felt really special, and it is!
I bought my first piece of original art in 2017. Again, this was just eight years ago; I’m still very new to this!