"I wasn't buying a painting. I was buying hope." On Collecting Art When You're Not Rich I collect art the way I buy into things I love — starting small and building up. If I see an artist whose work stops me I'll buy a postcard or a small study first. Something I can afford. Something that gets their work onto my wall and into my life. Then I watch. If the work keeps working on me, if I find myself looking at it differently six months later, I save for something larger. The m