Nicole Lapin

But here is the truth.

More often than you think, it's not about taste.

It's not about passion.

It's not even about art.

Specifically, it's about hiding, moving, and multiplying money in a way that regulators can't easily touch.

Today, I'm breaking down exactly how all of this works.

I'll walk you through the five-step playbook that ultra-wealthy collectors use to turn art into one of the most powerful financial tools in their portfolios, from tax loopholes to money laundering, and also share real-life examples of all of this in action.

But I did say we would start at the beginning, which is the purchase.

So a wealthy person walks into an auction house, say Sotheby's or Christie's and drops, let's say, five million bucks on a painting.

And here's the thing.

There is no set market price for art.

A

A painting is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay for it.

And that's part of the appeal and also the loophole.

There is no pricing formula.

There's no earnings multiple here, just perceived value.

And when you're rich enough, you can help create that perception.

Take a Jean-Michel Basquiat, for example.

In 1984, his paintings were selling for twenty thousand dollars.

In 2017, Basquiat sold at Sotheby's for $110.5 million, a record at the time for an American artist.