This Is the Art You Can Buy at Costco

Costco (image courtesy virginiamiracles.com)

Thirty-pound bags of flour, giant TV sets, and giant boxes of diapers are a few of the things you might find at the bulk discount store Costco. Oh yeah, and original art by Pierre Bonnard, George Rouault, Henri Matisse, and Andy Warhol. The big-box store has started selling fine art — and they’ve sold out all of their stock.

Proving once again that sometimes art galleries aren’t the only answer, Costco has sold its entire runs of a Matisse lithograph, “Femme Au Chapeau” ($1,049), “Figure” lithograph by Georges Braque ($1,549), and “Kiku” lithograph by Andy Warhol ($1,349) in just the two weeks since the art series launched. The lithographs are limited editions and have their provenances charted in otherwise prosaic “product detail” blurbs.

The high-profile names combined with the affordable price point (the pieces range from $700 to $1,500) make the works easy sells for amateur collectors who certainly wouldn’t feel intimidated buying art in a Costco, as opposed to, say, a Gagosian gallery. The great news is that if you don’t love your new purchase, you can even send it back it for a refund. Costco has a full return policy — just send your Warhol back to the warehouse and you can get your cash back. If you take store credit, though, you could totally get one metric ton of toasted almonds.

Below, check out some of the pieces that Costco promptly sold out of.

Henri Matisse, “Femme au Chapeau” (all images courtesy Costco)

Andy Warhol, “Kiku”

Georges Rouault, “Face of a Young Girl”

Heather Robinson, “Nonpareil Bunting”

Keep an eye on Costco’s Art category for more.