Collectors with a high net worth may have the opportunity to place art on their yachts, which travel across oceans. Even though these extreme cases are often at sea, keeping the same best practices in cataloging, protecting, and showcasing art is important.

Superyachts are a unique environment.

A yacht is an investment in passion, unlike a private plane. Each yacht is unique and a symbol of luxury. The interior’s artifacts also reflect the same values.

Art collectors are common among superyacht owners. They want their hard work to be reflected in their home of leisure, a home away from home, where they can entertain and impress guests and where they can express their taste and become culturally literate.

Many may believe that sheltering the best of Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, Claude Lorraine, and Claude Monet two thousand miles away in international waters is sheer lunacy. However, this is not always the case.

Give your artwork a new life on a yacht.

Yachts are sturdy and well-built. They also have sophisticated environmental controls. If artwork is not in direct sunlight, it might fare better than other locations.

The art should be seen and appreciated, not just stored in a museum.

However, it would be best if you considered the potential for damage to the vessel and loss.

However, Superyacht owners and crew bear a heavy burden. They are the owners of the world’s cultural heritage. A total loss is not only financial but also emotional and historical, depriving future generations of their heritage and aesthetic pleasures.

Private collections require collection management. The Superyacht environment should be designed to prevent such losses. Training crew members, captains, and yacht management companies are crucial, as most of the damage is caused by humans and human error.

Learning a bit about art history and art, in general, is a great idea.

Uncertainty about what is in your trusted care is one of the biggest issues. You may mistakenly treat the white canvas behind your dining room table as wallpaper if you don’t realize that it is a Lucio Fontana of multi-million dollar value.

A little bit of art history and art can go a long way. Training is key. Whether it’s a Superyacht or a hotel, training is key to ensuring that employees can perform their jobs properly and serve their owners.

Although it may seem obvious, stories abound about people throwing a football into a painting and accidentally popping champagne corks onto a canvas. They also damage crystal sculptures by washing them in the washer. These tales of woe are just a few of many. Some will never be forgotten, but others can be.

Guide the yacht crew on collection care.

The collection documentation should guide crew members on how to take care of objects and what to do in the event of an accident.

Conserving at sea and at home is vital, as insurance doesn’t cover general wear. Crew members should contact their Superyacht art consultant, curator, or manager if something is damaged. The crew can then evaluate the damage and identify the best way to fix it. This is not an easy task. Damage can occur anywhere in the world, so it may be more difficult to fix if you dock in Sint Maarten in the Caribbean.

What happens if an artwork is lost at sea?

It is generally better to leave damaged pieces than try to fix them. One Captain was heard saying that he would water the artworks after a fire and “they would be fine”. In the case of Kapoor’s sculpture, cleaning off the thumb marks only worsened the problem. The object had to be returned to the studio at a cost of thousands of dollars.