Interior design
Buying your first work of art: the guide to starting a collection without mistakes
Published on ·4 min read
We all have a wall that is waiting. We look at posters, hesitate, tell ourselves a real canvas is for later, for when we have a bigger flat, a budget, some knowledge. In truth, a first work is bought with 500 euros and one simple rule.
This guide is written for someone who has never bought art: the budget that makes sense, the format you will not regret, the three checks that protect you, and the way of choosing that means you still look at the canvas in ten years.
The budget: between 400 and 900 euros, and why not more
Under 300 euros you rarely find an original canvas hand-painted by an identifiable artist and delivered with a certificate: that is print and edition territory. Above 1,500 euros you enter a market that demands knowledge, comparisons, sometimes an expert. In between, 400 to 900 euros, is the zone of small and medium formats by emerging artists: a real work, a real certificate, a price that does not make your hand shake.
It is also the price of a fine light fixture or a designer armchair. The difference is that the canvas exists only once, does not depreciate like furniture, and does not bore you like an image seen everywhere. For a first purchase, it is the right balance between risk and reward.
The format: small, and that is a strength
The reflex is to want big, so it shows. It is a beginner's mistake: a large format dictates its place, its colour, its wall, and does not follow you when you move. A small format, 20 to 50 cm a side, sits on a console, hangs in an entrance, migrates from room to room as you please. It lives with you.
Playlist for two, 27 × 20 cm, is exactly that format: a two-figure scene on a purple ground that sits on a bedroom shelf as well as a living-room wall. At 490 euros it is also the entry canvas of the IS × SEY Maison series. A first work does not need to be imposing; it needs to be yours.
One-of-a-kind canvases, painted for the house.
The three checks before paying
Choose with the heart, verify with the head. Three things to check, and nothing more: the artist's signature on the canvas; the numbered certificate of authenticity, with title, dimensions, technique, date and unique-piece mention or edition number; and an identifiable artist, with a name, a practice, works visible elsewhere than in this single listing.
The price must also be coherent with format and technique: a 27 × 20 cm acrylic on canvas at 490 euros, yes; the same at 4,000 euros, you ask why. Conversely, an 80 cm original canvas at 90 euros delivered in three days from the other side of the world is not an original canvas.
- ·Artist's signature visible on the work
- ·Numbered certificate: title, dimensions, technique, date, unique or n/total
- ·Identifiable artist, with other works visible
- ·Price coherent with format, technique and the artist's standing
Where to buy, and how the work reaches you
Three channels for a first purchase: the artist's studio, a gallery, or a house publishing a series with an artist. All three deliver with a certificate. What sets them apart is the service around it: packaging, transport insurance, right of withdrawal. A canvas travels badly if badly packed; a dented corner is beyond repair.
The IS × SEY Maison series is sold direct by the house: each canvas leaves in artwork packaging, corners protected, tracked and insured, with its certificate, and you have 14 days to return it if it does not speak to you once on the wall. Six canvases, from 490 to 890 euros, numbered 1/6 to 6/6. For a first work it is a simple frame: you choose, we handle the rest.
A first work is chosen between 400 and 900 euros, in small format, with the heart, then verified in thirty seconds: signature, numbered certificate, identifiable artist, coherent price. It is bought direct, well packed, with a right of return. The six IS × SEY Maison canvases were conceived as first works: unique, certified, from 490 euros, delivered ready to live on the wall.
Frequently asked questions
What budget for a first work of art?+
Between 400 and 900 euros. Below, you mostly find prints and editions; above 1,500 euros the market demands knowledge. In between, an original canvas by an emerging artist with certificate, at the price of a fine light fixture.
How do I know if a canvas is really original?+
Three checks: the artist's signature on the work, a numbered certificate of authenticity with title, dimensions, technique, date and unique-piece mention, and an identifiable artist with other works visible. A price incoherent with the format is a warning sign.
What format for a first work?+
A small or medium format, 20 to 50 cm a side. It finds its place in any room, moves as you please and follows you when you move house. A large format dictates its wall and is more easily regretted.
The SEY Maison Circle
Every month, an exceptional piece. Never reissued.
The Drops principle: one high-end furniture piece per month, in a numbered edition. Once it's gone, it never comes back. Circle members are notified 48 h early, access each drop 24 h before everyone else, and receive our guides before publication.
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