The Value of Art
The most expensive painting as of 2019 is Salvator Mundi or 'Savior of the World' painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. This was sold at Christies for a staggering $460.3 million!
Leonardo was relatively well off during his lifetime due to the support of his patrons, but many artists struggled in poverty with their work never appreciated by anyone. Vincent Van Gogh was certainly one of these artists.
Plagued by mental illness, he was, fortunately, supported financially by his brother Theo which enabled him to keep painting. He created about 2,100 artworks, including 860 oil paintings. After his suicide, he became successful and was then regarded as a misunderstood genius. If only he could have foreseen how famous he would become after his death! His Portrait of Dr Gachet was sold in 1990 for $82 million – if up for auction today, the price would be several times that much.
How do you value art? In the top end of the art world it is determined by short supply and high demand. Which artist is currently fashionable also plays a part. Gerhard Richter and Banksy come to mind.
But for the everyday artist who sells in our shop and on our website – how do you set a price for their paintings? Artists usually come to us with a definite price in mind. They usually know how much people are likely to pay for their work and will often be open to haggling or paying in instalments. We have a mixture of hobbyists and professional artists. As we are based in a seaside town, many of the paintings sold are of local scenes with the iconic cliff promontory the Ness being the ‘must have’.
People often look at our collection of paintings and fancy having a try themselves so we are pleased to have John Skinner who gives Watercolour classes in our gallery; Clare Jenkinson who tutors Still Life workshops; Jane Branch who teaches Portrait Drawing Workshops and Shan Roberts who gives Mixed Media/Abstract workshops. They are all inspirational! If you would like to try, click on our Teignmouth Workshops page, book a session, learn or brush-up (!) a skill and join in the fun!
