THERE COMES A TIME when plastering your walls with curled up Bob Marley posters is no longer a sign of a free spirit, but rather a lack of taste; when Monet prints look naff rather than clever; and when Granny’s watercolour simply won’t sit with that stylish sofa from B&B Italia. That is when you have to bite the bullet and embark on a search for real artwork.

You live in a modern property so you will want contemporary art rather than a landscape painting or portrait. And the good news is that tracking down decent contemporary works is becoming easier, and you don’t have to have particularly deep pockets. Out of the Brit Art movement has sprung an unlikely liaison: artists are teaming up with property developers to sell you paintings along with a new home.

The idea is being pioneered by Britart.com, the people who source works from up-and-coming artists, as well as established players, and sell their pictures over the internet. This is not Brit Art as in Damien Hirst’s pickled sheep and Tracey Emin’s soiled bed. As Britart.com’s collaborations with the Pietra Lara scheme in Clerkenwell in Central London, and the Kings Chelsea development in West London prove, the right contemporary piece can give your City flat an edge, and still be presentable enough for any home in the Royal Borough.

“People are often quite scared of going into galleries even though they like art,” says Elle Forster, head of art consultancy at Britart.com. “So if people don’t go to galleries, the galleries can come to them.”

The collaboration works for the developers, too. Indi Johal, the man behind Pietra Lara, where two-bedroom flats are on the market for up to £845,000, says: “Most show homes end up with nothing more than decorated walls. At this sort of price, you are attracting a more discerning buyer who is looking at the details. The art is a talking point.”

At the developments kitted out by Britart.com, the paintings, which are all for sale, are as important as the furniture, not an afterthought to match the curtains. In the airy, open-plan sitting room at Pietra Lara, the large canvas by Wojciech Nowikoski and fibreglass cube by Gary Martin add fizz to the bright furniture from B&B Italia. More subdued work by Kate Allen and Lis Fields creates a clean, urban feel throughout the rest of the flat.

The contemporary art at the much larger Kings Chelsea development strikes a greater contrast with the topiary in the courtyards outside. The scheme is a mix of old and modern. Kings Chelsea was a country home in the 17th century before becoming an Anglican teacher training college two centuries later. Now new flats blend with period buildings.

The result may be attractive but, as the top end of the London property market softens, developers are having to go to greater lengths to justify the asking price for penthouses. At Kings Chelsea the £2.25 million price tag for the four-bedroom penthouse, which crowns a newly-built wing of the development, includes all the furniture and artwork — good news for house-buyers who like to drive a hard bargain.

Here Britart.com has been working with the interior designer Mise-en-Scène from the hard hat and wellies stage, changing lighting and wall finishes where necessary to make sure the artwork looks its best at one of the penthouses on show. The outside of the development, which features 288 homes, may hark back to a bygone age, but inside the mood is 21st century.

Elle Forster says: “People are achieving higher salaries at a much younger age and want contemporary art on their walls, rather than traditional canvases.

“The culture of art buying is changing with the idea fostered by Charles Saatchi that young artists are worth investing in now rather than after their death. And with the stock market down, more people are buying art.”

Just as well. The pieces in the developments carry investment-grade price tags. The most affordable painting in Pietra Lara is an 18 square inch canvas by Kate Allen for £550. But the fibreglass cube by Gary Martin will set you back £5,850, while Nowikoski’s canvas costs £4,300.

Not all contemporary art is so expensive. Britart.com’s prices start at about £100 if you buy over the internet. And you can buy the largest of canvases for £1,000 if you trawl through art school degree shows yourself. Whether any of the artwork turns out to be a good investment is another matter. But the idea of teaming art with property is bound to catch on.

Joe Crompton, the art dealer who is behind Artistscollections.com, a website that puts buyers in touch with artists, is considering working with estate agents to get art into homes. After all, if estate agents recommend local restaurants and services, why not art galleries?

“It’s becoming increasingly fashionable to be interested in art. It’s an extension of an ongoing trend to focus on things to do with our home life,” says Crompton. As the director at Stuckism International, the Hoxton gallery devoted to paint and canvas, he believes that paintings will be around long after the current fads for video installations and other bits of conceptual art have died away.

“Not everybody realises that there are lots of galleries out there,” says Crompton. “But galleries are not sacred places. If you can use a lovely painting in a building and it helps to sell the flat, then everyone’s a winner.”

SUSAN EMMETT

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