Step 1 — Why Choosing Art Feels Difficult

I Finally Understand Why Choosing Art Has Always Felt So Difficult.

If you can say that sentence with at least a little conviction, then congratulations: you and I are no longer alone. There may actually be quite a crowd of us.

And before we go any further, let me make one thing clear.

There is nothing wrong with you.

You simply discovered that choosing a painting for your home is much more complicated than choosing a new lamp.

So, where do we begin?

The gallery.

Someone might suggest visiting an art gallery.

It is, of course, a perfectly respectable suggestion. Galleries can be wonderful places to see art.

But for someone just beginning to think about collecting paintings, they can also be a little intimidating.

There are names you may not recognize, trends you may not understand, prices that make you quietly inspect the floor, and occasionally someone who seems to have come specifically to demonstrate that he understands modern art better than the rest of humanity.

You look at the painting.

You look at him.

You look at the painting again.

And you think:

Perhaps this is not quite my kind of art.

Fair enough.

The art fair

Then there are art fairs.

I have a particular affection for them.

They are more democratic, more relaxed, and usually much less intimidating. You can walk around, look at dozens of paintings, talk to artists, ask questions, and simply enjoy yourself.

But there is one small problem.

If you arrive without knowing what you are actually looking for, the art fair can become an exercise in exhaustion.

Suddenly you have questions you never knew existed.

What size should the painting be?

Horizontal or vertical?

Oil, acrylic, or something else?

With a frame or without one?

Landscape or still life?

And, perhaps the most troublesome question of all:

 

What kind of painting is actually “mine”?

The problem is knowing

how to recognize the right one for you.

I know this because I have. Then you begin walking from one painting to another.

Beautiful.

Interesting.

Too large.

Too small.

Too bright.

Perhaps too quiet.

Perhaps the colours are wrong.

Perhaps the colours are right, but the painting doesn't speak to you.

After an hour or two, the paintings begin to blur together. There are too many people, too many impressions, and—if you're an artist—you may even notice the occasional hopeful glance asking whether you are about to become a buyer.

Eventually, you go home.

Without a painting.

Possibly without much patience left, either.

And then, perhaps the next morning, you look at your wall again and realize that something is still missing.

You don't want another print.

You don't want something chosen simply because it matches the sofa.

You want an original painting.

Something that belongs there.

Something that quietly becomes part of your home—and, in some small way, part of you.

And this is where the real difficulty begins.

Because you may now realize that the problem was never a shortage of paintings.

There are millions of them.

I've been there myself.

For a long time, I thought choosing a painting was simply a matter of looking until you found something you liked.

It turns out it is not quite that simple.

But there is a way to make the whole process much clearer.

And that is what we will explore next.