The obvious upside of fractionalized art ownership is that it allows investors to gain exposure to high-value artworks that would otherwise be financially out of reach. Observer Labs

There are several different ways to invest in art. A collector might buy a painting with the expectation that it will increase in value and then sell it once that increase materializes. Beyond that, there are also high-end art funds, including Artemundi, Anthea and Luxembourg, which are pooled investment vehicles that cater to high-net-worth individuals who are essentially buying into a collection. Newer companies such as Rally, Masterworks and Yieldstreet are geared toward less wealthy investors who might buy shares of a single artwork for as little as $20 to $100. Another option that has grown increasingly popular is for two or more people to jointly purchase an expensive artwork, splitting the costs, with the agreement that they will sell the piece once the opportunity for profit has grown.

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“Fractional ownership of artworks is not rare on the art market; it actually has been relatively common for quite some time,” Kate Lucas, special counsel at the Manhattan law firm Grossman LLP, told Observer. She regularly works with art collectors, dealers and investors and explained that these types of ownership arrangements “can also arise in situations where multiple family members inherit a partial share of a single artwork. Generally speaking, and unless there’s a contract that says otherwise, when a work is owned by multiple fractional owners, one of those........

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