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How to invest in blue-chip art through Unicorn Art Club

How can you invest in blue-chip art without buying a whole work alone? Through a club deal. In Unicorn Art Club qualified investors commit capital to one artist among 30 modern and post-war masters; when Unicorn Private closes the raise, its in-house experts have 12 months to select and buy one work through a dedicated vehicle (SPV). The work is kept in an insured art storage facility and sold at auction or privately after 3 to 7 years, when Unicorn Private decides. The minimum is 100,000 dollars per member and per artist. If no suitable work by the artist turns up within 12 months, the experts pick a work by an artist of comparable standing, according to Unicorn Art Club as of 28 October 2026.

Key takeaways

What Unicorn Art Club does

A Lucio Fontana Concetto spaziale, Il cielo di Venezia, sold for 16.43 million dollars at Sotheby's New York on 14 May 2026, according to HENI. Few investors want to put that much into one canvas. Many would put 100,000 dollars into a share of one.

That is the idea behind Unicorn Art Club. For each artist on its list the club raises capital from its members. When Unicorn Private closes the raise, its experts look for a work, buy it through a vehicle created for that artist alone and hold it until the sale. Each member owns a share of the vehicle in proportion to what they paid in. While the search is on, the money sits in the Mercury account of Unicorn Private LLC.

Art Club is separate from Unicorn Club, the pre-IPO club: separate account, separate membership, separate app.

The 30 artists

The list covers Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Amedeo Modigliani, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani, Piero Manzoni, Giorgio Morandi, Giorgio de Chirico, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Zao Wou-Ki and Pierre Soulages.

There is no raise target, no running total and no member count: the same model as the club deals of Unicorn Club. Each artist has a deal open to members, and the deal page shows the price range of the works the club is looking for, next to the artist's record and recent auction results with their sources.

The price range is not the record. Fontana's auction record is 29.2 million dollars, set by a Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio at Christie's New York on 10 November 2015, according to artnet. The club looks at important works that change hands more often, not at the one canvas that made headlines.

How a deal works, step by step

If no work by the artist is found

The selection window lasts 12 months from the close of the raise. If in that time the experts do not find a work by the artist that fits, with the right provenance, condition and price, the capital is not returned. They pick a work by an artist of comparable standing, with the same checks. The work is valued twice: when it is bought and when it is sold. Nothing in between.

Each deal page in the app shows the stage: raising, selecting the work, work acquired, for sale, closed. Once a work is bought, members see the updates and the vehicle's documents.

Who can join and the minimums

Club deals are private placements, open only to accredited or qualified investors under the law of their country. In the United States the SEC defines an accredited individual as someone with net worth above 1 million dollars, excluding the primary residence, or income above 200,000 dollars (300,000 dollars with a spouse or partner) in each of the last two years, according to its page updated on 13 June 2024. In the app you confirm your status with a questionnaire based on the rules of your country of residence.

The minimum is 100,000 dollars per member and per artist. For US residents it is 200,000 dollars for individuals and 1,000,000 dollars for entities.

Membership, payments and costs

Membership costs 99 dollars a month or 890 dollars a year. It gives access to the deals and is not an investment. In the iPhone and Android apps it is a store subscription; on the website it can be paid by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, crypto or wire.

Commitments are paid only by wire or in crypto: BTC, ETH, USDT or USDC. Never by card.

Unicorn Private earns 20% of the gain when the work is sold. There is no annual management fee. Storage, insurance and appraisals are paid by the artist's vehicle from the capital raised, in proportion to the shares, and the club estimates them at 0.5% to 1.5% a year of the value of the work. The cost of buying the work (auction or seller fees), setting up and running the vehicle and selling at exit are actual costs of the vehicle too, paid at cost with no mark-up. Every member sees the detail in the vehicle's documents.

Following your artist

Before committing, look at the market. Unicorn Art Watch lists the records and recent auction results of 100 masters, with date, auction house and source, and each of the 30 club artists has a page there, for example artwatch.unicorn-club.com/artists/lucio-fontana. The Art Watch app sends the news. The same artist pages link to the deal in the Art Club web app at artclub.unicorn-club.com/app/, which works in the browser.

Then weigh the real risks. The value of the work at exit depends on the market on that day, the timing of a sale can move, and costs accrue every year the work is held.

Investing involves the risk of losing capital.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum investment in Unicorn Art Club?

100,000 dollars per member and per artist. US residents: 200,000 dollars for individuals and 1,000,000 dollars for entities, according to Unicorn Art Club as of 28 October 2026.

Do members choose the work?

No. Members choose the artist and the amount. Unicorn Private's experts select the work, checking provenance, condition and appraisal, and buy it through the artist's vehicle.

What happens if no work by the artist is found?

The capital is not returned. If no suitable work by the artist is found within the 12-month selection window, Unicorn Private's experts select a work by an artist of comparable standing.

How do I pay a commitment?

By wire or in crypto (BTC, ETH, USDT or USDC). Card payments are not accepted for commitments.

What does Unicorn Private earn?

20% of the gain when the work is sold, plus the club membership of 99 dollars a month or 890 dollars a year. There is no annual management fee; the vehicle's actual costs are paid at cost with no mark-up.

Can I use my Unicorn Club account?

No. Unicorn Art Club has its own account, membership and app, separate from Unicorn Club for pre-IPO deals.

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Sources

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