When it comes to art, beauty is in the eye of the shareholder.
What happened: Billionaire art collector Thomas S. Kaplan is planning to fractionalize his library of Dutch Golden Age paintings and launch the collection as an IPO. The tranche of masterpieces features 17 paintings by Rembrandt, the world’s largest private collection of his works.
- Shares in the collection would be tradable on a stock exchange, and there might also be a crypto token component too, with Kaplan trademarking the name Rembitcoin.
Catch-up: The concept of listing artwork on a stock exchange is quite new. The first time one was taken public was in March 2024, when the startup Artex listed shares of a portrait by acclaimed Irish-British painter Francis Bacon on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
- Elsewhere, companies like Masterworks, which doesn’t list art on the stock market but does offer fractional investments for users, have operated for several years.
Why it matters: As we discussed a couple weeks ago, fine art sales have slowed as traditional moneyed buyers lose interest. Expanding the reach of art ownership to regular retail investors looking to expand their portfolios could give the moribund market a shot in the arm.
Yes, but: The idea hasn’t proved to be viable yet — Artex has only brought that one piece to market, shares of which have dropped by 3.9% since launch — and owning a share of an artwork may not have the same appeal as actual physical ownership for most.—QH