A conversation with a friend the other day yielded an all too often heard phrase from those furnishing homes on a budget: “I’d like to decorate my walls, I am thinking of getting a nicely framed poster, as I cannot afford real art.”

Perhaps this is what Poster Club and PSTR want people to think. But “real” art — whether that be unique oil paintings, limited edition photographic prints, or sculpture — comes in all sorts of price ranges. And with a bit of elbow grease, research, and persistence, one can build an art collection starting with a few hundred euros.

Of the two pieces of art shown above of similar sizes, the left being a poster (read: unlimited edition, can be printed on demand) of a work by contemporary artist Sofie Rebecca Iversen and the right being a unique oil painting by Swedish artist Olle Mattson with a linen and gilded wooden frame from 1938, which do you believe cost more, all in?

I’ll do the math for you:

1) Poster by Sofie Rebecca Iversen, from Poster Club:
print - 30x40 cm: €49
white passepartout: €20
dark oak frame 40x50: €59
shipping (FedEx): €14
grand total: €142

2) Oil painting by Olle Mattson, 1938
hammer price for the 50x65cm painting including frame: €28
auction and hammer fees (c 30% plus 8 euros): €14
shipping fees: €70
grand total: €112

So the unique oil painting, larger in size than the Poster Club print, is >20% cheaper than the Poster Club print. Which do you think is better value?

OK, so not all Swedish mid century landscape paintings have similar valuations. But it goes to show that the conception that “real art” is unaffordable whereas posters are, is a myth.

Here are three of my favourite sources for “affordable” art:

Auctionet: an aggregator of Nordic auction houses with an excellent app, that allows for trustworthy auto bidding up to your maximum

Wondering People: a self-proclaimed “floating gallery” working with up and coming mostly British artists

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: the world’s most storied affordable art fair, every summer since 1769, curated by Royal Academicians

— Michael Camacho
 Research and Design Practice (November 2025)