The international art market contains plot twists that would be at home in the more fanciful of soap operas. For example, the recent indictment of Christie's and Sotheby's on charges of price fixing could see their former chief executives swap 5th Avenue for cell block X and Chanel for striped pyjamas. Art has long been linked with forgers, swindlers, cat burglars and impoverished aristocrats, to present an image of genteel roguery that might do much to put off the cautious investor.

Yet if it's approached carefully, art can be a spectacular investment that gives a financial return as well as the intrinsic pleasure of having some decent eye candy stuck up on the wall. As with most things in life, it's all in the timing. You'd probably get a very different view from the chap who flogged the most expensive painting of all time than from the poor mug who bought it.

Intuitively, one would expect the values at the top of the world art market to follow and amplify the moves of the global economy. In boom times, there's a bundle of money chasing few pictures, since nobody needs to sell, which will stifle supply, and everybody wants to buy, stimulating demand.

In recession the opposite will be true, with forced sellers flooding a market where there are few buyers. So all you need to do is keep your powder dry until the economy is on its knees, move in and buy up everything that moves, then offload it when the market is booming. According to Mark Read of the Everard Read Gallery, there is such a disparate bunch of buyers at the top end of the market chasing a limited stock that the market will generally move less violently than one might expect.

The other way to make money out of the art market without having to outlay the GDP of a small African country is to spot the next David Hockney before anybody else does and buy up examples of his early work. This isn't impossible. Even Van Gogh only managed to flog one picture during his lifetime, which may explain why he went potty and lopped off his ear. If you'd happened to live next to Vince and felt sorry for the old chap, you could have helped yourself to barrow loads of the things and done pretty well. If you don't happen to have a starving artist in your garret you'd better start looking around the galleries.

This is where the problem starts. What you think would look lovely over the mantelpiece of the two-bedroomed 'Tuscan' is probably not going to be challenging enough for the cognoscenti of the contemporary art market. The Turner Prize is the leading modern art prize in the UK, and was won in 1999 by a video loop of a man with a house falling around his ears, narrowly defeating an unmade bed into second place. You'd have to be very modern indeed to stick either of those in the sitting room.

But contemporary art is commanding some pretty robust prices. A Damien Hirst could rake in over R3 million, while a piece of elephant dung given the full treatment by Chris Ofili, also a Turner winner, could go for R400 000. But before you dash off to the zoo to start pursuing Jumbo with a bucket and spade, you need to remember that it is only a tiny percentage of contemporary artists whose work commands any price at all, and most will be entirely forgotten in a few years' time.

Yet there are some particularly good arguments for South Africans to look at art as an investment. It is a global market, hence a perfect rand hedge. It's generally pretty portable, so come the revolution you could cut your Monet out of its frame, stuff it down your trousers and head for the border. And, despite the perkiness of the insurance premiums, it'll give you a lot more pleasure than a safe full of share certificates.

Mark Read says that to start building a collection you need to find a dealer you trust ? someone who'll see you as a partner rather than just a meal ticket. Without the help of somebody plugged into the market it will be very difficult to make much progress.

The other important lesson is to make sure that you buy what you like. Read says that all the great collections have been put together by people who loved what they were buying. You should buy the best work you can by a lesser artist, rather than a bad work by a bigger name ? the likelihood is that others will see what you like in it, and you'll have the pleasure of owning something you admire.

Read stresses you should look at art as a store of wealth rather than a short-term punt since pure speculation is dangerous not just for your wealth but also for the volatility and mispricing it induces in the market. The Everard Read Gallery is experiencing strong demand for and unprecedented interest in South African artists internationally, with sell-out shows in London recently, and Mark Read confesses to being 'enormously confident' about the future of South African art.

When investing in art: