The Value of Art
Paul Gauguin, Le Peintre de Tournesols, 1888
What is the value of art? Is it money? Is it aesthetic? Is it the creative process? It can be any or all depending on your perspective. Quantifying the value of art assumes varying metrics depending on whom you ask - artist, collector, gallerist, appraiser. It generally comes down to a combination of aesthetic value and financial value. As gallerists, when asked about the topic, it is important we cover both aspects, though personally we feel the aesthetics of a work should carry far more weight when beginning to consider any potential addition to a collection.
Unless you are acquiring art solely as an investment, ask yourself first, “Do I love it? Do the style, medium, subject matter, shapes, colors, etc. ‘speak’ to me? Do I have an affinity for the artist, his/her works, or his/her viewpoint? Will the piece continue to engage me over time?” After determining the personal aesthetic value of a work for yourself, start considering the financial aspect. Bridge those two aspects by asking, “Do I think I will derive [asking price] amount of pleasure from owning and displaying this work?” If the answer to that question is “yes,” delve more deeply into the nuts and bolts of the purely financial aspect of valuation.
At the higher end of the art world, the financial value of a work is determined primarily by artist name, authenticity, provenance, condition, subject, demand, and rarity. As with market value in most any area, limited supply of an in-demand item drives up price. In the primary market, artists likely set prices themselves or in consultation with a representative. The primary market assumes the artist is still producing, evolving, and adding numbers of pieces to his/her œuvre. After an artist passes away, his/her works become finite in number and may therefore begin increasing in value in the secondary market. The unfortunate effect of this has been that artists, whose works command exorbitant prices at auction now, may have died destitute with relatively little recognition or appreciation. Take, for example, the above pictured work by Paul Gauguin with Vincent van Gogh as his subject. The record price for a work of Gauguin’s sold at auction was $35 million in 2018. The record price for a work of van Gogh’s sold at auction was $81 million in 2017. Sadly, both men died in poverty with nowhere near the name recognition they currently garner.
Ideally, for art lovers not in the world of fine art auction houses, we encourage you to discover living artists in your midst. Visit their studios, go on art walks, attend gallery events, talk to the artists themselves, breathe in their air so to speak. Learn the value artists attribute to their own work - in most cases, it’s the process of creating, of molding a mental image into a concrete form, of the intrigue when creator and creation begin working in unison. Interacting with and investing in living artists inevitably leads to a rewarding sense of contributing to the art world at large. In the end, we believe value is in both the creation and the ultimate appreciation of any given artist or art work.
