Become a speculator on the art market Officially, the art market in 2023 was $65 billion worldwide. Of course, this does not take into account the gray zone, which is probably very extensive in this industry, but more on that another time. So $65 billion sounds incredibly impressive, until you realize that the richest man in the world in the same year 2023, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, had a fortune exceeding $200 billion. So he can buy the entire annual art sale offered around the world and still be the richest, because art is an asset that gains rather than loses value over time. It is also worth noting that the global tomato market in 2023 exceeded 182 billion US dollars. That means it was three times bigger than the art market. The Polish art market, which is one of the spectrum of interests of our gallery, amounted to PLN 567 million in 2023, or approximately USD 142 million. I will compare it with the most recognizable, prestigious investment: the apartment building at Złota 44 in Warsaw. This luxurious building, designed by Daniel Libeskind himself. Well, at the current price of a square meter of space in this skyscraper, the turnover from the sale of Polish art for 2023 would be enough to buy a fourth part of the beautiful building. So what's it like? How big is this market? Most interestingly, the art market is not subject to many regulations. It is one of the miracles of economics that it is not tempted to manipulate and play on the value of works as much as other areas of business. We often hear about abuses of securities listed on stock exchanges. There, the value of the company affected by the manipulation often exceeded the annual turnover. Adding to this that the value of probably the largest collection of art in private hands in Poland, not entirely physically in Poland, because most of the works are in the museum in Sousch in Switzerland, however, significantly exceeds the turnover of the entire official art market in Poland. Grażyna Kulczyk, a famous art collector who has been on the list of the richest Polish women for years, has such a collection. How is it that this market is not so susceptible to speculation? The attitude towards art, which is quite common, seems to help with this. Personally, I do not believe that it is easier for anyone to understand chemical plants, or thermal power plants, or waffle factories than art. But that's the way it is. I ignore the greater stability of values, because a piece of art exists unlike stocks that are virtual. Based on the example of a new project by a businessman and former Polish politician, Mr. Palikot, we know what can happen to our property. On the wave of public confidence he enjoyed, he collected hundreds of millions of dollars obtained in various ways by selling shares in a business that was in fact declared to be much larger than it is. Can you sell someone a painting four times as big? You can, but it will appear quite quickly and will be clearly defined as a legal defect or fraud, making it easier to assert your rights. As opposed to an overvalued business, bloated with paperwork. I don't know the answers to many of these questions, but tell me, do you really know better about pig slaughter or banking?
