By: Lipsum123
According to neo-classical economics most goods can be assigned a monetary value. But is this really true? People’s perceptions of value are often subjective, and dependent on what kind of object it is, the price and what feelings it brings out in us. So how does one decide the value of artwork?
Most artists paint for cultural value and recognition, not for monetary value. Part of this could be because to live of being an artist you have to be extremely good. The art market is very fluid, and art is such an abstract thing – like it could be anything. Normally there lies a lot of emotion behind artwork, which can be hard to interpret. Due to this it’s usually up to each person to determine how much a piece is worth. Some are drawn to art because it’s nice to look at, and gives a good feeling, others are drawn to it because it presents something of political importance, and the list goes on. How much you are willing to pay for an artwork depends on your personal feelings for the piece itself.
Many people claim that when an artist dies the value of the work increase. This was seen in the 1800s with well-known artists like Van Gogh, Monet and Gaugain. Though it might be hard to believe, this isn’t always the situation. In most cases the artists death has little or no impact on the value of his or her work.
For an artist’s work to increase in value after his death it is most likely due to one of three reasons:
- When alive, the artist was well known.
- Among collectors it was high demand for his or her work.
- The artist died prematurely or unexpectedly.
This also reflects on people’s opinions about art being subjective. When setting a price-estimate there are several factors to have in mind and you have to know what market you want to reach. Therefore, setting a monetary value on art can be really hard, and most often the value is a personal opinion that varies from piece to piece.
Sources:
Making sense of art and design industries 