WHY NOT BUY ONLY FAMOUS ARTISTS ?

You should buy what you like. If you like Picasso's "Blue Period" paintings, and have the money to afford them then by all means go for it! And (at least in theory) you'll have a better overall investment potential if you do). But it's not very rewarding buying art by famous artist at the expense of giving up the fun of "discovering" a new artist. Also, history consistently proves that "fame" often wanes and causes prices to come crashing down or soar up. One generation's "in" artist is usually not the next generation's idea of what's hot. Critics and museums often have an agenda that they wish to push, and sometimes inflate an artist beyond that artist's ability to survive the true test of time. Some power-house artists, like Picasso, Rembrandt, Goya and others just go on and on, but others who once were very hot (like many of the60's and70's artists) implode and are ignored a handful of years later. Who could have predicted just five years ago that Norman Rockwell would be having a retrospective at the Guggenheim? In1989 an original oil by Scottish painter Jack Vetriano sold for about300 British pounds. Today, although he is despised by the art critics and the British arts establishment, he is adored by the public and by some very important collectors, and his works, if you are lucky enough to get on the waiting list for one, ranged in the tens of thousands of pounds. Where will he be in20 years? No one knows. Finally, beware of the word "famous" which in some cases means "good advertising budget." There are quite a few artists (usually sold through fancy chain gallaries) that have the financial backing to take full page ads in many impressive places. A lot of this art is usually of very little value, and most of the time you usually end up with a very expensive, signed reproduction in an even more expensive frame.