Masterworks Sells Albert Oehlen Painting For $2.7 Million, Resulting In A 33.8% Net IRR To Investors

Masterworks, the alternative investment platform that allows retail investors to buy shares of iconic artwork, just announced that it sold Albert Oehlen’s Doppelbild (2002) for $2,700,000.

The company posted the initial offering for this painting in January 2021 for $1,887,000 with a price of $20 per share. Investors in the initial offering that held their shares until the painting was sold realized a 33.8% internal rate of return (IRR), net of all costs and fees.

The Painting: Masterworks acquired Doppelbild (2002) in a privately negotiated transaction from a private collector in December 2020.

The 57-inch by 95-inch painting belongs to a larger series of abstract paintings created after the 1990s, which Oehlen satirically refers to as “post-non-representational painting.” It was prominently featured in Galerie Max Hetzler’s exhibition at the Art Basic art fair in Switzerland in 2016, where it was purchased by a private collector.

Art as an Investment: Investing in artwork may not yet be as mainstream as stocks or cryptocurrency, but it’s an asset class that’s certainly gaining popularity with the rising interest in alternative investments.

According to Citi’s Global Art Market Report, contemporary art prices appreciated 14% annually from 1995 to 2020, outpacing the 9.5% average return from the S&P 500. The report also shows that art has low correlation with other asset classes, such as stocks, private equity and real estate.

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