[2] It utilizes a search engine and database to draw connections and map relationships among works of art.

[5] Carter Cleveland, the son of an art historian,[6] founded Artsy during his senior year at Princeton University and worked on the site from his dorm room.

[8]  In May 2010, Artsy participated in the New York City conference, TechCrunch Disrupt, where they competed in the Startup Battlefield and received the Yahoo!

[10][11] In November 2011, Artsy closed a round of financing from Eric Schmidt, Wendi Deng Murdoch, Dasha Zhukova, Larry Gagosian, Jim Breyer, Joshua Kushner, Jack Dorsey, Chris Dixon, and Dave Morin.

According to Wired, Artsy "has the potential to introduce each buyer to a wide range of artists and artworks, all of them related in some way and—this is key—most of them unknown and otherwise inaccessible to any but the most knowledgeable connoisseurs.