Oberlin College's art rental program lets students hang real works by Picasso, others in their dorms

With a budget of a few hundred dollars as the school's art librarian in 1940, Johnson founded the Art Rental program at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, which allows (and trusts) students to rent authentic works at an affordable $5 per semester. Each year, hundreds of pieces by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein and Salvador Dalí, among others, go on temporary display in student housing.

In his song, Jay Z reveals his ambitions to blow up Jeff Koons' balloons. But Oberlin's students have proven themselves to be far more trustworthy. Abiding by a few rules -- keep the works out of sunlight and uphold the school's honor code -- not a single incident of damage to the priceless pieces has been recorded.

Maisy Byerly, a studio art minor at Oberlin, chose "Local" by Red Grooms and "Portrait of Benny Andrews" by Alice Neel while sharing a house with other students who rented art last semester. They decided to display all eight of their framed works in the common are downstairs, saving valuable wall space in their rooms for for posters. On the opposite spectrum, Cohen recalled a friend who proudly displayed a work by Picasso right next to a "Harry Potter" poster.