Virginia also believes that with knowledge, practice and discernment, the risk is alleviated. "The high end of the market is not at the mercy of public taste. The art market has its blue-chip investments and these quality investments will bring reliable return. Of course, the entry point is higher," she adds.

Considering this performance of top-quality art, in April, UK-based Fine Art Management Services launched Fine Art Fund, a private equity-backed venture aimed at pension funds and university endowments. It hopes to raise $350 inn, locked in for 10 years, to invest in a portfolio of top-quality art.

The fund managers feel, it will appeal to those investors who have seen some of their biggest holdings plummet as the value of a quality painting will never go down to zero-it will never do an Enron.

Fine Art Fund also plans to solve the problem of lack of dividend income in this type of investment by renting out its art. This can be a boon to wealthy private investors, wanting to take advantage of slow but steadily growing art market.

The advantage of investing in good art is - it survives economic downturn. In art markets cumulative selling pressure arises only during economic depression and that is primarily confined to the lower segment of the art market.

Wolfgang Wilke in his report Investing in Art' says, "The long-term trend in inflation adjusted art prices follows the general economic trend, i.e., art prices rise above average compared to the prices of other goods. However, lower priced categories react quickly to worsening economic environment. An economic slowdown causes drop in demand and an increase in supply (plummeting assets and income trigger offloading), leading to forced selling. This, however, does not apply at all or only rarely to artworks in the top price category."

Consequently, top-quality art tends to be more stable than most financial investments in difficult times.

Further, the long-term trend for art prices is definitely upwards. Wolfgang Wilke says, "Art is a scarce product and not reproducible at will. Rising incomes over the long-term ensure a steady rise in demand for works of art against falling supply."

For investment-quality art the limited supply adds to the increasing demand, this would mean a definite price appreciation over the long run.

But the main attraction of the art market and the prime reason for its resurgence as an investment is its low correlation with other financial assets.

Despite the recent collapse of many financial markets, the fine art market has stayed buoyant over the past three years, though market volumes have fallen.

This year some top art even fetched record prices. But the perceptions about the performance are not unanimous as regards the correlation of art values with the stock markets.

Ioannis Evangelos C. Haramis, an investment advisor from www.GreekShares.com, which advices on art investment, says, "Cycles in the art market are not necessarily linked to those of other asset classes and there is low correlation between art prices and the equity markets, just as there is little correlation between different categories within the art market. This might make art a good choice for investors that want to diversify their portfolios."

The MeiMoses All Art index, which is based on the resale values of paintings sold at public auction in New York, shows a correlation of 0.04% (over the past 50 years) with the US stock market.

Consequently, art has the ability to reduce the risk of a portfolio when combined with the other assets and Art combines passion and investment.