4 reasons to buy original paintings instead of art prints

Why would you buy an original painting when you can get a cheaper print?

Well, why would you go to a concert or theatre instead of just streaming it online? The reproduction is fantastic, but the real thing is exceptional.

Here are my top 4 reasons to buy original paintings! 

1. Texture and variation! Nothing beats the texture and tactility of real brushstrokes of buttery oil paint on textured canvas. The interplay between sweeping brushstrokes and the consistent canvas grain. The way the light hits the layers of paint at different angles, making your painting look completely different depending on where you hang it, light it, or admire it from. A print will reproduce these in accurate detail and colour accuracy, but will always be 2D without that sumptuous feeling and variation in visual experience.

2. Long term investment! Ok, I’m not going to pretend that just because it’s an original painting you’ll have a Picasso or Van Gogh  on your hands once the artist dies. And I think you should always buy art that you love and want to enjoy, not that you think of as an investment. But, an original painting is a one-off by that artist which gives it rarity and prestige, which can lead to an appreciation in value over time. It's a one-of-a-kind original painting and only YOU have it!

3. Get exactly what you want! Commissions are an original artwork made just for you, to your exact requirements, specifications and subject matter. To suit your home, your family and your lifestyle. To celebrate a memory, capture a meaningful place or honor a special person. A reproduction print could never do that for you.

4. Soul, and support! This one is maybe a bit odd. Buying art is not out of charity, it is an exchange of money for a physical product at the end of the day. But a piece of original art truly holds a little part of the artist's soul- all their effort, vision, perfection, dreams, story. That might resonate with you as the buyer, or not- you might just love the painting for what it is visually. But I cannot emphasise enough how special and exhilarating it is when a collector chooses your original painting to buy. The support is truly, deeply appreciated.

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Not convinced? Read my counterargument: 4 reasons to buy art prints instead of original paintings