Prices 101: Art

Prices 101: Art article, examines the cost considerations that come into play when a prospective buyer decides to buy art. Beginning with size style and the desired medium, the most important consideration appears to be the cost of the artwork. The intent of the article is to provide the buyers the basic tools required to analyze if the price of the art is fair. It is a search and discovery process.

This article, addresses aims at providing information to beginners, the art aficionados who plan on buying art online, who are just beginning to assemble an art collection and want to find out what the reasonable prices of art. The veteran collectors buying high-end art, and the investor type is better served by researching the art auction results.

What sells online

In today’s market, one can find any type of art offered for sale online. There are two main categories. The first is originals, one of a kind artworks such as oil paintings, mixed media, and drawings. The second includes prints, multiples, limited editions and photographic prints.

Prices 101: Art facts

The following are pieces of information, excerpts from the excellent “Hiscox online art trade report 2017”, which provides valuable information about the online art market facts:

The online art market is estimated at 3.75 billion.
Online art market share currently stands at 8.4% of the overall art market.
65% percent of buyers bought more than one piece of art online in the last 12 months.
Instagram overtakes Facebook in 2017 as the preferred social media channel for artwork.
71% would only buy art online if below $1,000.
Visits to online art platforms: 52% of respondents are visiting online art platforms on a weekly basis or more.
93-95% of buyers indicate that they buy art for its’ emotional benefit (passion for art).

How artists price their artworks

To get a general idea of what is a fair price for artworks one has to know how artists price their work.  The most consistent method that artists use to price art, is the size based pricing. They either price by the square inch, or by linear inch.

Method No. 1 is the square inch method, where they calculate the area of the painting and multiply it by a multiplier. A reasonable multiplier is$2/square inch. Following this formula a painting sized 24″ x 36″=864 sq/in.x2=$1728

Method No. 2 is using the linear inch method and using perhaps a multiplier of 25. Following this formula they might price their work as follows: 24″+36″=60″x20=$1200

So if you plan on buying an oil painting sized 24″ x 36″, you could expect a reasonable price to be anywhere between $1200-$1700.

There is also a third method which takes into account the cost of materials, and the number of hours spent on producing the art.

Price range

According to the “Hiscox online art trade report 2017”, most artwork sold online is in the price range of up to $5,000. This price range is likely to satisfy almost any beginner collector. As quoted above, the majority of 71% percent would buy online if the artwork is below the $1000 mark.

For the seasoned collector

Art lovers, seasoned collectors who have been collecting for awhile are tending to be more specialized. They already have an artist that they follow and collect. And, they are likely to purchase much higher priced art, well above the $5,000 range of the online art platform. These collectors work with traditional brick and mortar galleries who represent well-established artists. These collectors, also buy at auctions.

The information that is required by these collectors is very specialized. It goes beyond a simple search online. Some information can be found in catalogs that document realized prices at auctions. One excellent online source of information about listing auction results can be found at findartinfo.com where you can enter the artist’s name and find realized auction prices. According to this website, their database includes 438,003 artists, 3,775,762 art prices, 369,594 signatures and 2,269,616 photos of artwork. A very valuable resource that is highly recommended.

Price Guides sources

Sources of information are not easy and freely available online. For those inclined to do some serious research that goes beyond the online comparative search, some of the sources of information are listed below:

ADEC: International Art Prices
Art Sales Index
Davenport’s Art Reference & Price Guide
International Auction Records
Leonard’s Annual Price Index of Art Auctions

For prints, check the following resources:
Gordon’s Print Price Annual
Contemporary Print Portfolio
Lawrence’s Dealer Print Prices International

Other main online art pricing resources
Invaluable.com
artprice.com
artnet.com
askart.com
findartinfo.com

Researching prices

The most important parameter to analyze is what are the “comparable” artworks selling.
But how can the prospective buyer get this information? Well, there is no better way than to start a research, by visiting the many online art platforms which offer thousands of artworks by thousands of artists for sale. If you follow the artworks “sold” you may get a good idea of the average price range for the art you wish to purchase.

A word of caution. The asking prices for art depend on so many aspects, it is really difficult if not impossible to compare. And there could be very substantial variations between highs and lows. It is only a ballpark idea. A very limited sample of current prices of sold art is listed below.

MEDIUM – SIZE – PRICE SOLD IN USD
Oil on canvas – 12 x 12 – $600
Oil on canvas – 40 x 60 – $4770
Oil on canvas – 60 x 40 – $3770
Oil on canvas – 12 x 12 – $545
Oil on canvas – 31 x 40 – $1440
Oil on canvas – 30 x 36 – $3100
Mixed media: Acrylic, airbrush and oil on canvas – 39 x 47 – $1850
Mixed media: Ink and airbrush – 42 x 38 – $890
Mixed media: Acrylic and chalk on paper – 15 x 11 – $710
Mixed media on paper – 33 x 49 – $880
Mixed media on paper – 30 x 48 – $3670
Mixed media – 8 x 11 – $190
Mixed media – 24 x 18 – $180
Limited edition – 23 x 16 – $255
Watercolor on paper – 44×35 – $1080
Acrylic on canvas – 39 x 39 – $850
Collage – 28 x 22 – $330

Sources

“How Much Is Your Object Worth? – Researching Your Art” – SAAM an art gallery.
“Hiscox Online art Trade Report 2017” – Article

Posts on artgreeT Blog

“The 5 best sites to buy art online” – artgreeT Blog

“Art Social Media” –  artgreeT Blog
“Buying Fine Art Online” – artgreeT Blog