What is a 'good art piece'

Many of my friends have asked me, as how do you know that 'this is a good art work' just by looking at a painting? How do we judge a painting - they ask me.

One easy method is to LOOK at the painting. One can never judge without looking at a painting. It is advisable to 'look' at a painting for at least 5 minutes. Some paintings that do not catch your attention at first glance seem to 'grow on you' when you spend a few minutes 'looking' at it.

I have noticed this in the 'Louvre' the famous art museum in Paris. People spend days in just one room of the art museum, staring at some of the paintings for hours. It may take months to cover all the paintings displayed there. One of the most famous paintings displayed at the 'Louvre' is the world famous 'MONA LISA', by the world famous artist Leonardo da vinci.

I have had the opportunity to visit the museum twice, and each time I did get to have a glimpse of the ' Mona Lisa from a short distance only, because there are thousands of visitors coming to see 'Mona Lisa', and it is difficult to by pass the crowd leava alone have a 'long look' at the painting - long enough to allow it to grow on you !

Knowledge of Art

Should a buyer of art need to know, about the nuances of drawing and painting? Should he know about the styles of painting, the materials used, etc, etc.

What a buyer need to really have is an eye for good art. I he/she is able to appreciate a painting or art work, it is not a must that he/she should be aware of all the styles and details of painting. Because if the buyer likes what he sees, it is proof enough that the art work is good.

But it will do no harm for the buyer to have a little know hows, - say probably the various styles an artist uses while creating art or so, because it helps him/her to appreciate the art even more. A buyer who spends time on learning about the artist, and his paintings, and his works has a better chance of getting to know more.

As a buyer learns more and more from buying, he becomes a Collector. So a Collector naturally has knowledge of the fine art from various artists, and sometimes has preferences for certain artists and their works.

First tip -2008

A friend of mine recently told me that she and her husband had purchased a painting in Bombay. The painting, she said looked like a scribbling (probably by a child!) but was priced very high. But apparantly she liked the painting, and had bought it. She was worried that people may comment that she paid too much for the painting.

Now, how does one differentiate between a child's scribble and a fine art painter's creation? Especially with 'abstract' paintings, this is even more difficult.

It is essential to look into the artist's previous paintings, starting from his/her early paintings, to see how the artist has evolved. This gives you a fairly good idea about the artists creations, and the artist as well . You will notice that the scribbles are not actually scribbles, but carefully rendered strokes of an aritst. Paintings purchased with careful research about the artist may even turn out to be good investment one day.

In my opinion, my friend did the right decision in buying the painting even though she did not learn about the artist before she bought it. This is simply because she purchased the painting because she liked it. After all 'liking it' is the best criteria for a good purchase.