VanArtHub vs Art Works Gallery: which should you buy original art from?

Do both galleries publish prices?

Yes, and that makes this one of the fairest comparisons on the site. Art Works lists prices in Canadian dollars and groups its work into price bands: $300 to $999, $1,000 to $2,499, $2,500 to $3,999, and $4,000 and over. Examples on its $300 to $999 page include Yellow Birch by Sharon Quirke at $550, Ebullient, English Bay by Enda Bardell at $600, and Becoming by Marilaine Delisle at $700.

VanArtHub publishes all 155 of its prices too, from $531 to $5,980 CAD with a median of $1,265 and 13 works under $700. The two overlap most in the $500 to $1,000 range, where both have real choice.

What does shipping actually cost?

This is the clearest split between the two. Art Works publishes its rates: most canvases and framed pieces ship for $160 within Canada, most works on paper for $40, and works on paper to the US for $65, with other pieces quoted on request. Publishing those numbers is more transparent than most galleries manage, and $160 is an honest price for crating and moving a canvas safely.

VanArtHub includes free fully insured shipping in every listed price, to anywhere in Canada or the continental USA, arriving in 3 to 7 business days in Canada and 5 to 10 in the USA. On a $600 painting that difference is real: $600 at VanArtHub is $600, while $600 plus a canvas shipment is $760.

What happens if you change your mind?

VanArtHub publishes a 14-day return on every piece, refunds in full, and pays the return shipping itself. It also adds a Lifetime Trade-Back, so a piece can be exchanged for store credit years later.

Art Works does not publish a return window on its shipping page or elsewhere on its site. What it does offer instead, per its About page, is a home and office trial program, so you can put a piece on your own wall before you commit. If you are in Vancouver that is arguably the better answer to the same worry. If you are not, it does not help, and there is no published fallback.

Which handles framing, rental and installation?

Art Works, clearly and by a wide margin. Custom framing and framed mirrors are part of the business, and its About page lists art rental, installation, art consulting and curation, corporate placement, interior design and film industry work. If you need a piece framed to match a room, hung by someone else, or rented for a shoot, this is a full service gallery and VanArtHub is not.

VanArtHub ships work as the artist finished it, usually ready to hang for canvas, and offers none of those services. What it offers instead is that the number on the page is the final number, with shipping, insurance and a return already inside it.

Looking for a Art Works Gallery alternative in Vancouver?

Anyone searching for an Art Works Gallery alternative is usually comparing totals, not sticker prices. Art Works publishes both, which deserves credit: artwork prices in Canadian dollars, and shipping at $160 for most canvases within Canada, $40 for works on paper, and $65 for paper to the US. Add that to a $600 painting and you are at $760.

VanArtHub prices 155 originals from $531 to $5,980 and puts free fully insured shipping inside every one of them. Nothing is quoted afterwards, and nothing is excluded by size or by destination within Canada and the USA.

Where Art Works wins is everything around the artwork. Custom framing, framed mirrors, art rental, installation, and home and office trial programs are all part of the business, and none of them exist at VanArtHub. If you want a piece framed to match a room and hung by the people who sold it to you, Venables Street is the better address. If you want the price on the page to be the price you pay, this is.