A first collection is not about money. It is about looking often enough to know what you respond to, then buying carefully within a budget you set before you fall in love with something.

Begin with limited edition prints

A signed, numbered print from a small edition gives you real work by a real artist at a fraction of an original painting’s price. Check the edition size, that the number is written in pencil by hand, and that the artist signed the sheet rather than the image.

Buy what you will still want in five years

Trends move faster in art than in furniture. Look at a piece every day for a week before you buy it and notice whether you keep finding new details or whether it has gone quiet. The second reaction is the honest one.

One good piece beats five fillers

It is better to have three works you love on three good walls than a gallery of things bought to fill space. Leave walls empty until the right piece arrives; empty wall space is a decision, not a failure.

The short version

• Start with signed limited editions
• Live with an image for a week first
• Keep walls empty until the right piece arrives