Masterworks
PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2022
ART & DESIGN
Score Your Piece of a Picasso
DON’T HAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO INVEST IN ARTWORK? A PRIVATE INVESTMENT PLATFORM FRACTIONALIZES HIGH-VALUE ART SO NEARLY EVERYONE CAN GET A PIECE OF THE ACTION. B y M i k e R e d d y
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Masterworks flipped Banksy’s Mona Lisa for an annualized return of 32% in about a year. During the same period, the S&P 500 rose 15.6%.
uying and selling high-end artwork has been a tradition among the world’s wealthiest few, but fractionalization aims to bring the art market to the masses. Masterworks is paving the way for that to happen. Founded in 2017 by Scott Lynn, an art collector of over 15 years, Masterworks’ mission is to “democratize art investing” by enabling retail investors to participate in bluechip art deals. For that to be feasible, Masterworks buys artwork outright, sells shares of the works to its users and, after reselling the pieces at a later date, divvies up the profits proportionally to shareholders. “If you wanted to buy really high quality art, for a very long time you were going to have to spend millions of dollars on just a single painting,” said Allen Sukholitsky, Masterworks’ chief investment officer. “What we’re doing is we’re making art accessible to mainstream investors all over the globe.” Because “accessible” has different meanings to different people, the Masterworks sales team talks one-on-one with investors who request an invitation to the platform, Sukholitsky told Luckbox. Risk tolerance, time horizons and investment goals are all discussed, after which sales team members help identify asset allocations appropriate for individual investors’ portfolios. More than a quarter of a million people have already signed up for Masterworks, with
March 2022 | Luckbox
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