What makes ART valuable?

Question

This painting, titled "Adoration of the Kings" was originally valued at $15 thousand, thought to be by an unknown student of Rembrandt school centuries ago. At auction, an anonymous person bought it for $900 thousand. Now, years later, it has been valued at $18 million after research confirmed that it is an autographed painting by Rembrandt himself.

A painting valued at $15,000 turned out to be by Rembrandt. It could now sell for $18 million.

What do you think makes art valuable? It's the same painting, but now that it's associated with one of the classical masters, its value skyrockets.

Constatine · Accepted Answer

A: It is the name of the artist.. i have see mondriaan... white painting with a blue and red stripe.. this can be hardly called good or even fantastic... they are just 2 stripes. It is absurd what you have to pay for that.

So art does not have to good or pretty to sell for absurd prices but this counts also for statues. ( or what is supposed to )

I'm far from an art specialized... but i know what i like and it does not not cost millions.

LiamJHayden · Accepted Answer

Supply and demand. Someone can create the most intricate and beautiful painting ever, but if no one wants it it is worth nothing.

DizzyDesii · Accepted Answer

@constatine literally stated what i was thinking. Its all in the name and fame of the artist. I’ve seem someone paint like a dot and it still become valuable. Its almost like if you take any old football and let one of the most popular football players sign it, and then it can be sold/valued for thousands

Adaeva · Accepted Answer

It must be rare. It must be good, whatever that is. And, there much a demand for it.

NamerOfStars · Answer

Someone clearly needs to watch the Interstate 60 scene in the Museum of Art Fraud...

Amy10223 · Answer

The more the artist is well-known, the artist who made the painting (or drawing), the age of the artwork, and the condition it's in is what makes it valuable. A Rembrandt--Dutch artist--are you kidding me? That's priceless in my view. So would anything by Van Gogh, my personal favorite.

Astarlessnightsky · Answer

Mainly the Artist, and art collectors imagining its worth this much.

There is also rarity and age, not many paintings survive over hundreds of years, destroyed in fires, damaged by sunlight, chimney fires, candle fires, or just accumulation of centuries of dust.

Sometimes its also value in materials, like real gold used in the frame, colours made from grinding thousand year old egyptian mummies into a fine powder...

jennifer_bloom · Answer

I think people like the artwork cause the sensory limits of its colours make it appear soothing, relaxing and it's monumental without being too didactic, hegemonic or variegated. It's like a subtle reminder and not a screaming declaration and that makes it pleasing and unique.

zagor · Answer

What makes it valuable is what people are willing to pay for it. That is the totality of it.

I was watching a TV show about a couple who collected modern art. They showed an "artwork" that consisted of a piece of yarn tacked to the wall, and said it was worth $2,000. Because a famous modern artist had tacked it to the wall. Yeah, to me it was worth whatever I would pay for something to clean my fingernails.

Staximus · Answer

I don't know, it's just somebody's opinion. That idiot David Geffen paid 140 million for this Jackson Pollock painting. Jackson Pollock sucks, you could literally train a chimpanzee to recreate this.

Sjoerd85 · Answer

If more people really want to own something, and there are not many copies of it, then they are usually willing to pay more to get it. That gives the item its value.

TheSpaceGnome · Answer

Beauty, skill hoining and inspiration. Or at least as an artists, its whats valuable about it to me. Ironically, as an artist, I won't pay for art. I'd rather just make it.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

What makes art valuable is the same thing that drives value in many markets: demand. And demand can be influenced by many artificial factors.

Anonymous · Answer

How rare it is. What makes it rare is the quality, age, who made it, how many are available etc.

The utilitarian will say "why is a de Vinci painting worth so much? Lots of artists could make paintings like that."

Ok man.

exitseven · Answer

When your father is the president of the United States and your art work is a way to launder money and pay for bribes.

Massageman · Answer

Rarity of the maker, rarity of the media, rarity of the subject, basically rarity of any kind. Mix in supply and demand and you get inflated selling prices.

BCRanger10 · Answer

If 1) it's real, actual art and 2) it's good.

Anonymous · Answer

There are many factors that contribute to the painting's value, but the artist's death is the most influential.

msc545 · Answer

These days art is valuable because it can be used as a tax deduction.

236color · Answer

Art, or anything else for that matter, is only worth what someone else will pay for it.

DaBiggestBird · Answer

Maybe it’s history and origins, that would make sense to me.

love_conquers_lust · Answer

Rarity, timelessness, and relevance

jamesgoldman · Answer

The name on the corner

BaronReagan · Answer

The beauty it exudes

jahaims · Answer

Money laundering

Aiko_E_Lara · Answer

Marketing

jimmy2 · Answer

Death of the artist

What makes ART valuable?

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