Abstract art: A collector's delight and solid value for the astute investor

The genre has caught the the fancy of connoisseurs and investors alike. But you need a discerning eye, and plenty of cash and time if you regard the art form as an asset class

A tree is a tree. If you draw one, you merely copy what already exists in nature. Most art is representational, as it invariably has some roots in nature. But there is another form called abstract art, whose proponents assert is the most original, simply because it is "imagery straight out of the human mind". That is how artist Nalini Misra Tyabji describes this form, as I stand gazing at her paintings at the Visual Arts Gallery at Lodhi Road, New Delhi. She calls it the most interesting genre of art, as it gives you total freedom because it comes