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Art galleries or exhibitions can be thought of as rooms full of paintings and other art relics made available to the masses for the purpose of selling. Art galleries are a good way for artists to showcase their talent to the world. Buyers can benefit from such galleries as they can directly purchase the work of their favourite artists. However, they have certain disadvantages as well. Visiting an art gallery or an exhibition can be a very intimidating first time experience for someone who does not have a very good knowledge of art. Very little or almost no provisions are there to help a layman to guide through the exhaustive collection of art relics. Due to physical constraints, art galleries and exhibitions cannot display more than a fixed number of paintings online. Art collectors are known for travelling to far off places to attend the most of exhibitions or galleries. But if there are more than one exhibitions held at the same time, they have to sacrifice one at the expense of finding solace in attending the other. Due to time constrains as well many people are not able to make it to the exhibitions. 

Online art galleries have made it easy for people from across the world to view, admire and indulge in trading of art collections. Online art galleries are virtual platforms where you can sell or purchase authentic art. They can be accessed anytime, even in the middle of the night. You just have to visit the website and get started with the browsing. Web galleries contain huge collections of art forms of all genres, made by famous as well as upcoming artists. To help you with purchasing art online, here are some useful tips.

  • Not all people can afford to purchase famous paintings of artists such as Salvador Dali, Picasso, Jackson Pollock etc. So instead of purchasing the actual paintings, people can purchase art prints with hand signed signatures of the artists. Prints such as lithographs, etchings and serigraphs are the most purchased versions of the actual paintings made by famous and deceased artists. But be careful while purchasing them. Prints are easy to fake and reproduce. Always ask for authentication proof from the website where you are purchasing it from. Follow the same procedure while purchasing original paintings online as well. Ask for the artist’s acknowledgement to validate the paintings purchased. 
  • Always purchase form websites that follow government’s norms of online trade. The chances of purchasing fake stuff from a website that follows government norms are very less. Such websites use legit payment gateways to carry out online transactions. This is another way to verify the authenticity of the website as fraudulent websites do not use government approved payment gateways. 
  • Do a good research about the painting you want to purchase from an online art gallery. Check whether the website is entitled to sell that painting and the artist is registered with the site to sell his paintings. Be prepared to pay heavy amount of sums for top artists. No legit site sells the top works of famous artists at half or on-tenth of actual price. If you see such labels on the website, it is better to log out.
  • Do a little background check of the website you are purchasing art from. See its user’s reviews and comments to authenticate its legitimacy. Make sure everything looks good and you can contact the owners of the website in case you feel something is out of pattern.  Web galleries have promotional accounts and pages on social media sites for obvious marketing reasons. A legit site is known to update its social media accounts from time to time to tell people about is upcoming collections or exhibitions.
  • Almost all the legit sites mention and provide the details of the artists along with details of the paintings. You can contact the artist directly as well. Do not indulge in trading with the artists you are not able contact or reach. Get in touch with gallery’s officials if you think something is wrong.
  • Web galleries conduct online auctions every now and then. They provide the option of staying anonymous while making bids. Before indulging in online auctions make yourself familiar with the whole process of bidding and the payment procedure. Unlike normal purchasing, online auctions do involve some convenience charges and other taxes. Make user to enquire about them before getting yourself enrolled in the auction.  

Internet based services have revolutionized the business world and are slowly and steadily gaining popularity among people of all age groups. It is easier to target youth but equally difficult to target older people. Some people remain skeptic about buying paintings online as internet attracts all kinds of shady characters. But once you get used to it, you will find that web galleries are way better than their offline counterparts.