Abstract Art Collecting: Start Here
By Njeri Wachira · 27 July 2026 · 1 min read
Abstract work removes the usual entry point of "what is this a picture of" — here's how to actually start looking at it, and what to check before buying it.
Abstract work takes away the easiest question a new collector normally leans on — "what is this a picture of" — which is exactly why it intimidates beginners and exactly why it rewards learning to look properly.
What to actually look at instead of "what is it"
Palette, composition, mark-making, and scale carry the whole weight in abstract work. Ask instead: where does your eye land first, does the composition feel balanced or deliberately tense, and what does the actual surface — thick paint, thin washes, texture — tell you about how it was made.
The "five things" exercise, applied to abstraction
Stand in front of an abstract piece and name five things you can point to with your eyes — a dominant colour relationship, an edge quality (hard versus soft), a sense of scale, a rhythm or repetition, a single area that breaks the pattern. That exercise works precisely because it doesn't require identifying a subject.
What to check before buying, specifically for abstract work
Because abstraction doesn't have a "does it look right" test the way figurative work sometimes does, provenance and the artist's documented practice history matter even more here — check the same things covered in our authentication guide, since technical inconsistency is often harder to spot by eye in abstract work than in representational painting.
Why it's worth starting here anyway
Abstract work trains the exact looking skills — palette, composition, mark-making — that make you a better collector across every other genre too. Starting with abstraction isn't the harder path into collecting; it's arguably the fastest way to build a genuinely trained eye.
— Njeri Wachira