If you are a connoisseur of fine art, you probably already know this, but good art is expensive. This is the case regardless of whether you like watercolor paintings, bronze sculpture or linocut prints. They can all sell for shockingly high prices.
This situation is often discouraging to the new art aficionado. Why do fine works of art cost so much? Are high prices for good art justified, particularly when some works give the appearance of having been quickly and effortlessly executed?
There are legitimate reasons why fine art is so expensive. First, it takes an artist years to become fluent with a particular medium. The minutiae of craftsmanship is only truly learned through arduous trial and error. During this long period of training or apprenticeship, most of what an aspiring artist produces is junk. In other words, they labor endlessly creating subpar works that generally go straight into the trash can.
Vanishingly few of these early career works are saleable. But once an artist “graduates”, circumstances reverse. A seasoned, accomplished artist is part of a select, exclusive group. Any works he produces at this stage of his career are usually immediately recognizable as attractive, magnetic and desirable. And prices reflect this fact.
In effect, today’s art buyer is actually paying for the time and effort to train an artist over many years, if not decades. Every “successful” piece of art is priced to cover the cost of several “failed”, unsalable works of art that had been previously attempted.
Another reason good art is so pricey is that art supplies are expensive. Regardless of whether it is oil paints, watercolors or alcohol inks, good quality art supplies are invariably more costly than the layman would suspect. In addition, sculptors, jewelers and some non-traditional artists often work with high intrinsic value mediums like bronze, precious metals and gemstones. Add to this the fact that a project will often require multiple practice runs before a finalized version is created, and the total cost of supplies for even a modest piece of fine, contemporary art is often shockingly high.
The final element that contributes to the high cost of good art is randomness. A superlative work of art has a non-trivial element of chance in its creation. No matter how skilled the artist, it is impossible to produce great art on demand. Instead, the inspiration, mood and skill of the artist intersect with the subject matter, medium and countless other factors to determine the ultimate quality of an art piece.
Only once in a great while will all the stars align, allowing a truly gifted artist to realize his intent of producing an outstanding work of art. But for every masterpiece a skilled artist manages to produce, there are probably ten other good, but not great, works sitting in his studio. Yes, he will sell the good works, but he’ll undoubtedly charge a very hefty premium for that one magnificent piece.
This “lightening in a bottle” phenomenon is highly unpredictable. Even if an artist has a great concept and the necessary skills and tools, it is no guarantee of a good outcome. In fact, it is depressingly common for an artist’s greatest disappointment to be a project that starts with a solid idea and considerable enthusiasm. In contrast, an artist’s proudest work often originates as an absent minded doodle or impulsive notion that eventually evolves into a masterpiece. As an art collector, you pay for this completely unpredictable factor of artistic genius.
I think it is important to note that the above analysis applies primarily to recently created art. Antique or vintage art produced decades (or centuries) ago by now deceased artists has very different economic dynamics compared to new pieces recently produced from living artists.
Yes, good art is astonishingly expensive. But there are legitimate reasons for this. The world’s supply of trained, technically accomplished artists is extremely limited. Even if the world demanded more fine art tomorrow, it would take decades to train a new cadre of artists up to the prerequisite skill level. Rather than lament art prices, lovers of fine art should accept this situation as the very reasonable price of aesthetic perfection.
