Why is Art SO Expensive?

A few months ago, there was a certain well-known portrait of Marilyn Monroe created by Andy Warhol that sold for $195 million. That’s a staggering amount for one single piece of artwork – that’s only 40”x40” anyway!

The majority of artists will never see that sort of sale in their lifetime, let alone after their death. Why are we talking about death here? According to ArtsGain.com, the price of artwork rose by an average of 57% after the artist died. The idea of artwork becoming more valuable posthumously is because once an artist dies they cannot create anymore, meaning there are only so many pieces of their artwork that exists, and no more will ever be made again. That’s also the reasoning behind numbered prints and why they cost more than open-run prints.
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But what about the pricing of artwork that isn’t uber-famous? Like the paintings sold by a local artist at the Farmer’s Market, why are they so expensive? Let’s break it down! For simplicity’s sake here I’m going to stick to common visual art mediums as opposed to performance art, video art, conceptual art, etc.

Soooo many canvases!

First off, in order to create a piece of art, you need some sort of supplies. For example, a painting: you need a canvas, brushes, and paints. Possibly more items, if you are taking a mixed media route and collaging things onto the canvas. Pottery requires clay, glazes (fired or room-temp,) and a kiln. For photography, you need a camera, possibly film (and access to a dark room with all its various chemicals and equipment,) photo paper, plus a computer with editing software and a printer (for digital.) I could go on and on, but the point I’m trying to make is that all of those things cost money.

Next, you have the time spent creating the artwork.  Do artists deserve an hourly wage for their efforts, like in other fields? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median hourly rate (2022) for artists is $29.24. Here’s where it gets really muddy – how do you determine the amount of time spent on a piece of artwork?

For painters, obviously you start the clock when they touch the canvas or paper with paint, pencil, whatever, and you hit the button to stop when they are done. But what about a potter, making a beautiful vase? Do you start the timer when they sit down at the wheel? What if they have hours of collapsed cylinders before they finally get the perfect one? And photographers – do you count just the 1/60th of a second that the shutter is open, or do you take into account the weeks that they got up before the dawn, drove 25 minutes one way, and lay in the bushes for 45 minutes every morning waiting for that one perfect foggy sunrise? Don’t even get me started on how long digital editing can take.

Fancy!

Alright, alright, slow your roll there, Haley. Let’s assume the artwork is finished now. It is possible to “frame” a painting on stretched canvas by painting the outer edges of it. If it’s been painted on a board, however, it needs to be framed in an actual frame. If the artwork is on paper, it will need to be both matted and framed behind glass. Mat boards, which often need to be custom cut to fit a specific artwork and frame, are inexpensive overall but can still cost a few bucks apiece. Frames can be found in a variety of ways: you can purchase individual frames, you can find some pretty great frames at secondhand stores (and either you struck gold and it fits your piece, or you can create a piece for the frame,) or you can get custom framing per piece of artwork. In fact, many of the local framers I’ve met (not art supply chains that offer custom framing) got into the business because they are artists who require custom framing for their own artwork… and they also frame the artwork of other artists. Custom framing can become quite costly quite quickly. Especially when it’s for a larger piece, as one frame with mat board and glass could easily be $200 or more.

Let’s say the artist is framing their own pieces, saving the cost of paying for someone else’s labor upfront. Many galleries don’t allow sawtooth hangers, which means without professional framing you have to have wire and eyelets on hand and be able to install that hanging wire yourself.
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Speaking of galleries, did you know that the average gallery commission is about 30%? And that’s average. It can even be as high as 50%. Fifty percent! But maybe the artist isn’t selling in a gallery, but rather selling the artwork themselves as part of a studio tour. Many studio tour organizations have application/membership fees, as the running and advertising of those events aren’t free either.

It's a beautiful day for selling art!

Hold the phone, I just had a thought… What if the artist went to college for art? I mean, to be a great artist you don’t have to go to art school, but if you did you’ve no doubt amassed thousands of dollars in student loans that need to be paid back!

So included in our hypothetical painting with a $300 price tag is a $125 frame and $90 in gallery fees, leaving $85 to the artist to buy more supplies and also pay their electric bill. Let’s hope that painting took less than 3 hours to complete, otherwise that median hourly wage starts dropping fast. At least we artists can always look forward to our deaths, when that $300 art becomes worth $471 through no extra effort of our own. 😉
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Anybody else’s head spinning at this point? In the end, what can we do? First off, you can voice your opinions through voting to support funding for the arts. You can also buy artwork from living artists (particularly local ones) who are members of your communities, who go to your church every Sunday and whose children go to school with yours. There are so many local artists who all work in different styles, you are sure to find someone whose artwork appeals to you. Even if you can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars on one original, prints are an affordable option as well. You can also support the local art scene, without paying any money, just by attending and helping to spread the word about events at your local gallery.