When Monet Shook Hands With Surety

“An artist is somebody who produces things that people  don’t need to have.” - Andy Warhol   The recent fire incident at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last month ended up destroying several timeless works of art, which were priceless. Now, the question is, were those artefacts insured? While there is no concrete answer to it, the importance of art insurance cannot be ignored. Needless to say, exquisite works of art are forever and we find the famous Romantic poet John Keats debating the supremacy of ideal art over nature in his poem Ode On a Grecian Urn. While art insurance has gradually started gaining prominence in other countries, it is still in its nascent stage in India. It is quite surprising that India, which has a very strong history of art and culture, something like art insurance is rather unheard of. The culture to insure art is yet to evolve,...