Art advisory & finance

For over forty years, our pioneering Art Advisory & Finance services have guided clients through the global art market, helping them build collections and achieve liquidity from artworks.

Become a client

Collecting art has been a passion of many wealthy individuals and families for millennia.

Discovering, acquiring, and living with great works of art can bring enormous joy and gratification.

Since 1979, our in-house art advisory specialists have built, maintained, and protected some of the top art collections in the world.

Through our Art Advisory service, we can guide you through the art market, developing an acquisition strategy to build a collection that reflects your vision.

We enable borrowing against internationally marketable paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs of high quality and value, having pioneered the concept of art lending ourselves.

By using your art as collateral, you can create liquidity in order to add to your collection or for other investment purposes.

Our art advisors offer independent and objective advice, serving as your advocate to identify, research, evaluate, and negotiate acquisitions and sales of art on your behalf.

Collaborating with our investment finance specialists, we work with you to establish the terms and conditions of the art loan.

In most cases, a collection used as collateral may remain in your home or office.

An art collection is like a visual diary – over time it embodies a collector’s life, loves and views on the world.

Fotini Xydas

Global Co-Head of Art Advisory & Finance

How we serve you

Insight

Our Art Advisory & Finance team has extensive industry experience from careers in major museums, galleries, and auction houses.

Our art advisory services and specialties cover global collecting fields ranging from 19th Century, Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art.

We monitor the latest trends from art fairs, exhibitions, and auctions worldwide to deliver the insights you need to navigate the market.

Access

A shared passion for art can create a global network with like-minded collectors and specialists.

It can also give you access to auctions, galleries and private collections.

Our ongoing program of client events includes art collector dinners, gallery visits, specialist talks, and private viewings at the world's leading art fairs.

Legacy

Given both its financial and sentimental value, we believe your art should be reflected within your wealth planning strategy.

We can work with colleagues across the Private Bank to develop estate and/or philanthropic plans for your collection.

Collecting art can also be a way to express global citizenship, either through gifting or lending artworks to museums and cultural institutions for the enjoyment of others.

Meet our people

Global Co-Head

Mary Kate O'Hare

Global Co-Head of Art Advisory & Finance

Mary Kate's LinkedIn profile

With over 25 years of curatorial and academic experience, Mary-Kate brings extensive expertise in US, European and Latin American modern and contemporary art to our clients.

Previously, Mary-Kate served as Curator of American art at the Newark Museum and held a fellowship at the Clark Art Institute. She has organized several critically lauded exhibitions and has taught numerous university-level art history courses and seminars. She continues to regularly publish and speak on modern and contemporary art.

Mary-Kate earned a MA and Ph.D. in art history from Rutgers University, writing her dissertation on the work of John Singer Sargent.

Global Co-Head

Fotini Xydas

Global Co-Head of Art Advisory & Finance

A specialist in 19th to mid-20^th century American and European art, Fotini has served our art clients for over two decades. She provides objective advice on acquisitions and sales, in addition to evaluating and managing Citi’s international art finance portfolio.

Fotini has experience in both curating exhibitions and appraising art. She began her career at Sotheby’s and Hollis Taggart Galleries.

Fotini holds a master’s degree in Modern art and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University, and an MPhil in Art History from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Global Co-Head