$450,300,000 million.
That’s how much Saudi royal member Bader bin Abdullah Mohammed paid for Leonardo da Vinci’s 1500 painting Salvator Mundi (Saviour Of The World), at Christies auction house-New York on November 15th, 2017 making it the most expensive work of art ever sold.
Second to that is abstract expressionist, Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning’s 1955 painting ‘Interchange’ that hedge fund manager and Citadel LLC founder Kenneth C Griffin bought privately in 2015 for $300,000,000?
Let’s not forget post impressionist Paul Cezanne’s 1892 painting ‘The Card Players’ which was bought by the royal family of Qatar in 2011 for $250,000,000.
So this begs the question “have these buyers lost their minds or are there certain factors that affect the value of these and other artworks?”
On closer examination it would appear to be the latter. As per the three artists/artworks listed above, supply and demand needs to be taken in to consideration i.e. the fact that these artists are no longer living, the artworks are one of a kind and that they are no longer painting meaning that the scarcity of their work makes what already exists even more valuable.
Whilst most artists living today may only ever dream of their work selling for $450 million in their lifetime, they can and most certainly still make a lucrative income. But knowing how to price your art pieces is not an arbitrary process. In this article we go over some critical factors that should inform how much you charge.
Market
Doing market research is key. Therefore you should ask what market category would I classify my work. Is it hyper-real, acrylic, water paint etc?
What is depicted in my work and how popular is the subject? FYI top selling art themes are
Traditional landscapes
Local views
Modern or semi-abstract landscapes
Abstracts
Dogs
Figure studies (excluding nudes)
Seascapes, harbours, and beach scenes
Wildlife
Of course, what you choose to paint is entirely up to you.
You need to note how much works that are similar to you have sold at auction or privately to determine what you might realistically be offered for your content. Go to exhibitions and speak with other artists with art similar to yours for more insights. Also consider what territory you or they are in. For example the market for works by North American and European born artists is the largest and the steadiest whilst work by Asia-Pacific artists has shown a decline.
Materials
Your price guide should take in to account the material cost that you have incurred. Things like
- Paint brushes
- Paint
- Spray paint
- Canvas
- Frame
- Acrylics
- Easel stand
- Charcoal
- Palette
How To Charge For Sponsorships
So typically if your medium of choice is oil paint then you already know that this usually requires a higher level of proficiency than some others and that the paint brushes alone can incur costs that go in to the hundreds of dollars/pounds.
In contrast, drawing in charcoal can be as low as 9-10 dollars for 25 sticks
Time
Broad, irregular, minimalist brush strokes on a piece of canvas or was it a painstaking slow, highly methodical detailed hyper real piece?
A hyper-real piece of art can take 6-12 weeks to complete or 300-400 hours depending on size and subject matter so make sure you are pricing correctly corresponds to the complexity involved.
So just like any other job you would require compensation for the time that you have laboured. Point number above ‘Material’ potentially overlaps with ‘Time’ because the longer it takes to complete the artwork means there’s increased chance of higher equipment costs.
Size
There are 2 size pricing methods most commonly used for physical artworks. These are;
Price per square in (Height and width)
Price per linear inch
Here’s an example of how you might charge per square inch. Start by measuring the length and width of your work e.g. 5×5. Next take the two numbers and multiply them. So in this case the resulting number would be 25. After this you could then take that number and again multiply by an amount that you think justifies your current stature. So in this case at $20 per sqaure inch you could sell your work starting at $500.
The maths for linear inch is a little less complex. Measure the length and the width, but this ‘add’ the two numbers i.e. 5+5 would give you a total of 10. So depending on what you are charging per linear inch, $20 for example, you would be pricing your art piece for $200. And this is before you add your materials, time and other value variables.
Exposure
Artists like Banksy can paint on a wall and within 24 hours the resulting media frenzy will go global on a multitude of media platforms seen by millions.
Such was the case back in February 2024 in Peckham, London that lead to two suspects trying to steal a stop sign he erected and sell it for £250,000.
Getting your work is seen is an important criteria for how much they can potentially sell for. These are places you should consider.
- Museums
- Exhibitions
- Art Halls
- Art Clubs
- Private Art Galleries
- Corporate buildings
- Coffee
Outdoors (e.g. street art)
Events
Cultural centres
By getting your work out of the studio in to public spaces it gives you an audience that can appreciate your work, discuss it and spark a dialogue between you and them. This type of engagement is invaluable to an artist and helps establish reputation and authority. Also members of the public who will almost all have a phone have the opportunity to record it and share it with their friends, family and social media followers.
Which brings me to my next point. Make sure you have a social media presence. It goes without saying nowadays the ability to showcase creative work with millions of people has never been so easy. And unlike the above example that requires leg work and carrying/transporting potentially large pieces of artwork, you can take photos of your work from your studio or home and publish online immediately.
