Managing Art Wealth: Creating a Single Family Office that Preserves and Protects the Family Art Collection

Abstract

Investing in art, once the preserve of a wealthy elite in Europe and North America, is now global. This expansion of the art market, made possible by the broader dissemination of concentrated wealth and by the globalization of art, has fuelled the tendency to view art as an asset class comparable to stocks or real estate. Only recently, however, has art been viewed through the lens of modern portfolio theory and considered a potential alternative investment as part of a portfolio of assets. Based on this evidence, this study examines the role of art in the overall wealth-management strategy of a single family office and the issues faced by wealthy families in managing a private art collection. Finally the paper offers general recommendations on what constitutes sound art governance in order to preserve and protect a family collection.