The Artophile website is dedicated to those who have a passion for fine art and who are on a quest for affordable investment art.

Whether you are an experienced collector, cautious beginner or serious investor, we are proud to present a range of artworks that merge the demands for aesthetic enjoyment with the highest potential for long term appreciation - financial or personal.

Our artwork falls into 5 categories. Every month Joanne Bergen (a.k.a. The Artophile) selects two pieces for each of the following categories to be featured as our recommended choice of affordable investment art:

Grand Masters: There is a general misconception that only the very privileged (a.k.a. "the rich") can own original works by major artists such as Picasso, Masson, Matisse, Chagall, Dufy, etc. In fact, a major segment of the art market is the limited edition original print - an art form that rigorously tests the artist's technical limits - a challenge that all adventuresome artists love. These works were hand-signed by those same artists whose oils on canvas command several million dollars in today's auctions.

Contemporary: During Joanne's 25 years in international art, she has worked with many emerging talents who have gone on to achieve world-wide recognition and appreciation through having their works purchased by museums, exhibition galleries and major corporate and private collections. In this section you'll find exciting, inspiring and affordable recent works. These are the masterworks of tomorrow.

Art Deco and Pochoir: Every Artophile has to have a favorite period. Joanne calls the period between 1916 and 1931 "the age of grand elegance." She amassed an exceptional personal collection of artwork that reflects the amazing evolution in graphics, design and fashion of these magic years. "I believe that art history will ultimately record the 1920's as the most exciting and captivating decade of the 20th Century. For this reason," the Artophile says, "artwork from this period is poised to appreciate substantially in value."

Antique: Works on Paper: A major, worldwide trend in collecting is the growing appreciation and demand for works from the earliest days of printing. Here you will find pages from the Nuremberg Chronicles, as well as specially commissioned works from the 15th and 16th centuries, stunning architectural renderings and engraved botanical works that represent state of the art from the 1700's and 1800's. "These are surprisingly affordable pieces," advises the Artophile, "that, because of their current re-discovery, could well be impossible to find in a few short years."

Antique: Music and Manuscripts: Over the years Joanne has embraced another collecting specialty - antique works on parchment or vellum that have been hand-written and embellished. The antiphonal music pages in this section go right back to the liturgical ceremonies of the 13th century. The Psalter pages displayed in tempura and gold leaf were brilliantly and painstakingly ornamented by hand before Columbus discovered America. For those with a passion for historical documents with artistic merit, the Indentures on vellum spanning the 18th and 19th centuries display beautiful calligraphy and margin decoration. Handsome, delightful, unique and irreplaceable.

The Artophile Unmasked…

Joanne Bergen has always had a passion for visually arresting and unusually aesthetic art. After receiving her MA in Fine Art from Concordia University (Montreal), Joanne began her career in Paris, France, when she worked as a consultant for Art Concorde, a major left bank art publishing house. During this time Joanne launched a series of investment seminars in French, German, and English, which led to explosive growth in her marketing of Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Miro, Moore - all the surrealists, the Ecole de Paris, etc.

Eventually Joanne opened "Galerie Joanne Bergen" in Frankfurt, Germany. She continued to expand her reach by opening in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she serviced galleries, corporations and investors.

Since then, she has built an international clientele of art investors and galleries on four continents and has placed artworks in the offices and boardrooms of such companies as Chrysler Corporation, I.B.M, Microsoft, Anglo American Corp. and South African Breweries.

Today Joanne divides her time between her home base in Port Perry Ontario, Canada and her "second office" in Heidelberg, Germany.

Joanne Bergen is available for lectures, seminars, private investment consultations, and evaluations.