This paper investigates to what extent paintings by U.S. artists born before WWII can be treated like capital assets, and whether the findings are specific to artist, subject matter, and value of the work.  The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) in its standard static form is applied to...

The literature on return and risk for investment in paintings is extended by disaggregating for artist, genre, and quality. A hedonic log price model generates yearly price indices and shadow values for painting characteristics using a large sample of U.S. artists sold at auction from 1971 to...