How to evaluate an artist's work?

Valuing an artist's work is not only a matter of financial calculation, but also a deep understanding of how his work is perceived in the art world. Imagine: you are an artist, your brushes are magic wands that create worlds and emotions on the canvas. After many hours of work, you have finally given life to your creation, and now it is ready to conquer worlds and hearts.

But how to determine its value? This is not an easy task. Next, we will look at what factors influence the assessment of the value of works of art, and also look at a price calculator for the art market.

 

 How to value something that has no price: art price guide

To evaluate a work of art, many factors must be taken into account. For example, any artist wants to be appreciated for his talent, hard work, activity, participation in exhibitions, education, etc. However, the activities of galleries that sell works of art are no less important. How to evaluate such work?

Let's start with the fact that the art market is one of the most complex economic and cultural formations. Prices for art change from year to year: in general, like for any product. And in this case, art is also a commodity, no matter how cynical it may sound.

What is special about the art market? The fact is that a work of art is a product that is sold more than once. And the further, the more time passes from the moment of the first sale, the more the work increases in price. Pricing at this stage is influenced by the following factors:

1. sales at fairs and auctions;
2. participation in major exhibitions;
3. availability of work in museum exhibitions;
4. inclusion of works of art in significant collections.

So, the price of a particular work will depend on how active the cultural life this work “leads”, as well as on who its author is. Thus, the author’s biography and the facts of his creative life certainly influence the sale of his art. The paintings of Salvador Dali will cost more than the works of some aspiring surrealist.

 

Factors that influence the formation of the price of a work of art

How to determine the price of an artist's work? To do this, you must first of all pay attention to the factors that influence this process. It’s worth considering right away: there is no single strategy for assessing works of art, a universal checklist of factors, or a calculator that will make the assessment for you. But we can still identify some key elements of the price formula for works of art:

1. artistic value of the work;
2. the work put into the work by the author;
3. materials costs;
4. the time that has passed from the moment the work was created until it was put up for sale.

The simplest factor is, of course, the cost of materials. Because every artist can calculate how much he spent (relatively) on canvas, paints, brushes, etc. This can be calculated objectively. However, what to do with the artistic value? After all, this is an intangible factor. This is a subjective characteristic.

📌Artistic value is the unity of uniqueness, composition, form and content, as well as the strength of the emotional impact of the work on the public.

Here the phrase comes to mind: a work of art is worth as much as you are willing to pay for it.

The influence of the artist’s work and name

However, let's go further. The author's work. This factor is directly related to the name of the artist. So, for one master it takes a day to create a painting, for another it takes months and even years. But the time an author spends creating a work has no correlation with price. Just because you spent a year on your piece doesn't mean you'll sell it for more.

It is absolutely normal for an artist's name to influence the appreciation of his art. After all, earning a name and reputation in the field of art is not an easy task. And the author also puts a lot of work into developing his name. Today, the artist’s name is gradually turning (if it has not already turned) into a brand. Which, in fact, does not surprise us. After all, in the context of a consumer society and mass culture, a brand is an absolutely common thing.

Other pricing features in the art market

Pricing in the context of the art market is a stumbling block not only for artists, but also for other players: gallerists, dealers, collectors and curators. True, they are trying their best to make their task easier with the help of template methods. One of the most popular of these methods is expensive.

📌The cost method is a way of valuing a work of art, where the price depends on the amount of cost to create the work. The price is calculated based on taking into account material, objective factors with the introduction of individual - special - amendments.

Among such amendments are, for example, the significance that a particular work of art has for the culture as a whole: for example, is it world or local art, the work of a famous artist or a newcomer, etc. Sometimes, to form a price using this method, such characteristics of the work are taken into account , such as size or material, writing technique and the uniqueness of the work. Thus, often small-format paintings by the same author are cheaper than large-format works.

By the way, there is no consensus on the size of works of art. But most often for private collections they choose canvases with a side size of up to a meter.

📌In addition, the cost differs depending on who is buying the work of art: investor, private collector, designer, decorator, dealer, etc. For each player in the art market, the price will be unique.

 

Conclusions: what determines the price of a work of art

Let's summarize. The price of a work of art is determined by taking into account the following factors:

1. name and biography of the artist;
2. "age" of the work of art;
3. costs of creating the work (material, paint);
4. the uniqueness of the work's technique;
5. size of work;
6. technical condition and quality of the work;
7. the importance of art for culture;
8. buyer's identity.

🎨 Fun fact: Children's portraits cost more than adult portraits; and the most expensive works are, as a rule, works in the nude style or still lifes.

Artist's biography as an assessment factor

Of course, the most popular question is: how should aspiring artists evaluate their work? What should be in your profile so that it has a qualitative impact on the price of your work?

Here are the key points in your biography that you need to consider:

• Participation in fairs, biennales, auctions and exhibitions (including personal ones). Remember: the main thing is quality, not quantity.
• Availability of works in private collections, museums, galleries.
• The authenticity of your work, technique, innovation. If your work is interesting, original, unusual, fresh, it will, of course, attract the attention of the public - and it doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or an already established author.
• Participation in international projects in the field of art, as well as fame in the media.
• Foreign representation of works and you as an author.
• Reviews from art critics, experts, gallerists, curators, colleagues, collectors.

It so happens that the greater your representation in exhibitions, catalogues, collections, etc., the higher your work is valued. The cost of a work of art increases up to 20% after each personal exhibition of the author or after inclusion of the work in the catalog.

Art valuation calculator

As we said, there is no single calculator that can be used to estimate. However, if you are just taking the first steps in appreciating a work of art, then this calculator can help you. So, if you are in doubt about how to evaluate your work, use the following formula:

Step 1: Artwork Title and Artist Name

Step 2: size (height, width) and year of creation of the work

Step 3: Artist Education

Step 4: material (canvas, wood, glass, fabric, etc.) and technique (oil, watercolor, acrylic, collage, etc.) + material costs

Step 5: genre (portrait, landscape, still life, animalism, abstraction, etc.)

Step 6: participation in exhibitions (city, regional, international)

Step 7: presence of the author’s paintings in museum collections and private collections

Step 8: Participate in Auctions

Step 9: artist titles and awards

Step 10: completeness and preservation of the work of art

Step 11: Time spent creating the work

You can choose your own strategy for evaluating the painting. It often happens that you want to evaluate something other than your own work. And of course, you may not know some data. If you do not know the year the work was created, the year 2020 is usually indicated for modern works, and 1980 for paintings from the Soviet period.

Thus, the formation of prices in the field of art is influenced by many factors. They can be divided into objective (price for materials, time to create a painting (in hours), your rate per hour of work) and subjective (your fame as an artist, the cultural significance of the work of art).