1. What is exciting and/or encouraging about the art market today?
The continuing rise in interest from Asia in our field as well as some cross-over from contemporary collectors who can see the value that can be found in Old Masters.
2. What is one challenge that buyers and collectors currently face?
I believe there is a blizzard of information available which is almost too much. This can be counterproductive to collecting.
A subscription to Artnet is not necessarily the pathway to great expertise and an all-knowing eye.
3. Why should buyers visit fairs?
It enables a collector or a more casual buyer to see some of the finest material available on the market both from private sources and the best filtered from auction. TEFAF Maastricht, for example, is like wandering around a museum where everything is for sale.
It’s also a chance for us to try to think of different and novel approaches to collection and display. Last year at Maastricht, for example, we used multimedia in a display of marine painting.
4. What is something you wish buyers would ask less often?
Whether something will be worth more in a year’s time. Buy something because you like it, not because of who it is by and whether it will double in value within five months.
5. Sky is the limit – what is one art work you’d love to have in your home?
The hardest question by far. So, so many, but right now I’d be very happy with Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Hunters in the Snow in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
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