Make Your Art Pay: Earning From Art Without Selling It

Updated October 2026

There are three common ways to get value from a work of art without selling it. You can borrow against it, rent it out or lend it to a museum. A loan brings cash and a rental brings income. A museum loan usually pays nothing, but it adds to the work’s exhibition history, which buyers and auction houses look at alongside provenance.

Each one runs on a contract, and a few terms in each contract matter most.

Borrowing Against It

A loan gives you cash now, and you keep any future gain in the work’s value. But it costs interest, and if you default, you can lose the work. Lenders typically advance 50 percent of appraised value, though terms vary. The loan agreement will limit what you can do with the work until the loan is repaid. What lenders ask for, and why these loans stall, is covered in Unlocking Your Wealth: Collateralizing Art, Yachts and . . . Cheese?

Renting It Out

A rental earns income while you keep ownership. The rental agreement should answer seven questions:

• How much rent will you receive after fees, and when?
• Who insures the work, and for what value, from the moment it leaves your hands until it comes back?
• Who may pack, ship, install and move it, and to what standard?
• Where may it hang, and can it be moved without your consent?
• What happens if it is damaged, including any loss in value after restoration?
• How much notice do you give to take it back?
• Is the work’s condition documented every time it changes hands?

If the work is pledged to a lender, read the loan agreement first. It will usually limit where the work can go, and renting it out without the lender’s written consent can put the loan in default. Some lenders will consent.

Rental income is generally taxable, and Florida sales tax can apply to the rent, so have your tax advisor review the arrangement before you sign.

Lending It to a Museum

A museum loan usually pays nothing, and the borrowing museum typically covers insurance and shipping. The loan agreement should set the insured value and the loan period. It should also say how you are credited on the wall label and in the catalogue, and what happens if the museum wants to extend the loan or send the exhibition on tour.

If the work is coming from abroad, ask whether the museum will apply to the State Department for immunity from seizure. Immunity has to be granted before the work arrives. Once it is, the work is protected from seizure while it is here for the exhibition.

If you are weighing a loan, a rental or a museum request, send me the agreement before you sign it.

About Alevon

I founded Alevon, a members-only marketplace for renting museum art and museum-level art from private collections, generally valued from $100,000 to $10 million. Alevon coordinates insurance, transportation and installation for every rental. It documents each work’s condition at four points: when it is picked up, when it is delivered, at the end of the rental and when it comes back. Private owners’ names are not disclosed. Works pledged to some of Alevon’s lender partners can be rented while they remain collateral. Alevon’s rental income calculator shows sample rates.

Alevon was featured in Florida Design’s Miami Edition

Alevon, Inc. is a separate company founded by Daniel Novela, who holds an ownership interest in it. Alevon is not a law firm and does not provide legal services. Services provided by Alevon are nonlegal services, and the protections of an attorney-client relationship, including attorney-client confidentiality, do not apply to dealings with Alevon. Dealing with Alevon does not create an attorney-client relationship with Daniel Novela or Novela Law Firm, P.A.