The process of collecting and purchasing original fine art work in any medium is fraught with perils, particularly for those on a limited budget. This is why most middle-class individuals do not ever consider buying original fine art. We should know, as we followed many now popular artists for years. Had we got up the courage to ask galleries how much? Rather than assuming that we could not afford original artwork by the artists we loved, we would now have a multimillion-dollar art collection. The fear of cost, embarrassment, and intimidation faced by potential middle-class collectors, is not a good thing for the art market, artists or the middle class as a whole. One of us was Art History and Arts Management major in undergrad so you think we would have had more trust in our artistic taste and education.

Original Fine Artworks are one of the few investments that are almost always guaranteed to appreciate in value over time, sometimes it is only a couple hundred, and other times depending on the artists development it could be many thousands. In any case it is a good way to invest money in something lasting and beautiful. To build wealth, and to have asset that can be liquidated at a higher value than you paid for it. It is important to note that artwork is much harder to sell than it is to buy, Sales of art is currently are subject to a 28% long-term federal capital gains tax rate—so there is a hefty tax bill you will have to pay on the selling price. Still you should be able to get a bit more than you originally paid for it.

Having fewer collectors at the lower end of the art market makes it hard for young and emerging artist to find buyers for their work. This means that many talented artists are not able to sustain a successful art career. The average annual earning for most artist today are less that $15,000 per year, this limits representation, art perspectives, and artistic development. A 100 years ago the vast majority of European art purchases and commissions were middle-class collectors. In a time that home ownership is increasingly out of reach for most geriatric millennials, it is more important that ever for the middle-class to find alternative ways to build wealth.

Unfortunately, designer shoes and handbags are so much more accessible to purchase than a piece of fine art for the same price. To a certain extent it comes down to motivation; what people value, how they want to be seen by others, and the aspirational lifestyle they want to attain. The difference is really just that designer clothing and accessories are something that other people are seeing you wearing on your body. Other than that it is just a purchase you make for yourself but also so that others can see the status that you attained. Owning fine artwork can serve the same purpose especially now with the prevalence of social media platforms like Instagram. We don't want to get into value judgments… but that is not the reason why we collect artwork.

As one of us is a barely middle-class geriatric millennial, wealth accumulation was not originally the goal: We love contemporary fine art, and the wonder of owning something that a talented human created. To us this quote by Roxane Gay, on her art collection sums it up nicely: “I mean, I’m proud of it. I just like what I like. And I get it, in some ways it’s an investment, but I actually don’t intend to do anything with them but display them. They just make me happy.”

The Montague Family collects art for the love of the artwork and not for long term value. We are not looking to get rich off of what we collect. If we were then we would collect a lot of work we don’t like. We have decided as a family that we don't want to surround ourselves with expensive things that we can't stand looking at.

As collectors we have a very particular taste which will overtime greatly reduce the financial power of our art collection, but we really do not care. We think it is important for collectors to know “Why” they collect fine artwork because that “Why” will influence what a collector buys. There is nothing wrong with buying art for investment especially for the middle class. At least it is something that will hold its value more than any other physical object that you can buy, live with, and take with you when you move.

We know that our collector choice to prefer work by female artist (we find the male gaze to be overly sexual & inauthentic) and the fact that we only buy representational paintings of women (not men ever!). We love brightly colored, highly saturated, juicy artwork. We value multicultural subject matter, and prefer paintings of women of color. These choices will narrow the financial appreciation of the collection and perhaps make it less interesting to others. Most of the styles of the artwork we buy are: Women Artists|Figurative Art|Contemporary Realism|Hyperrealism|Still Life|Contemporary Art & Representational Art.

That being said, those styles of work do not historically appreciate in value as much as: Abstract, Nonrepresentational, Non-Objective Art, and Conceptual Art does.

Great collectors have said not to buy work you think is beautiful or pretty; Buy ugly, disturbing and challenging art if you want something is going to be worth a lot of money one-day… Yet, you have to live with what you buy and look at it everyday unless you are buying for storage like rich collectors who buy for investment value and keep the art in a Freeport vault. Our Family wants to own work that is a pleasure to look at and that is personal. Artwork that we can directly relate to, see ourselves in, our taste reflected back in the artwork we collect, and our collection as a whole.