Hello gents - an artist here to share his opinion.
IMO, there are two types of art investments: known names (Picasso, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, etc) and currently collectable I hope they make it/stay big when they die (New British Artists, Banksy, etc).
Both of these groups, when art is sold from them, are worth a lot of money - in the case of known names we're talking tens or hundreds of millions. Like Apple/Coke/etc they are brands representing value (though it's impossible to know how much or for how long). The second group don't have entry costs as high (though something like Koons or KAWS is still millions to buy ONE piece) and are likely more volatile. Will Banksy's audience showboating be interesting when he's dead? Will KAWS' commerce as art be valuable when the shine wears off? Will the shine wear off?
No one has a crystal ball and the assets pay no dividends at all. Art investment, in some cases, vastly out performs the market. If you bought, for example, a Rothko, Pollack, Picasso, etc, early in their careers you'd have legitimately won the lottery if you'd held the piece and been able to verify it's heritage. But you don't (and can't) know who will make it big.
Existing art investment vehicles, as explored in an earlier post, are basically ways for rich people to trade wealth and shelter some assets from tax or scrutiny. I would caution heavily AGAINST NFTs as they expose you to much more volatility and also much more likelihood of cybercrime. These are investment toys for the tech worker (and the blokes that want to get rich quick), but it's not clear that they will hold value even at the end of this year, or that the security will ever improve. Say what you will of freeports, I think they're awful, but you're unlikely to open your digital wallet and have all your money drained from one.
IMO, the art market is structurally capable of supporting two types of spending: you like someone's art, on its own merits, and as a fan you purchase it OR you have mega bucks and want to avoid tax by buying an already canonised artist hoping to sell that work back to another rich person or large institution for profit later on. If neither of those are you, the art market doesn't serve you and is a waste of time.