OK. so I am besotted with this painting. See it here (the fourth one in the top row, the one with the blue flowers in the white vase).
The dealer is in my neighborhood (that’s how I came to see it), and when I inquired, they set an asking price of $3,000.
Now, I can technically afford this. And I’ve dropped similar sums on things like a good synthesizer (though that was a write-off as I play these for a living) or a nice computer. And both those purchases would hardly be investments; in ten years, I doubt I’d be able to sell them for more than a fraction of what I originally paid.
Whereas a painting could potentially hold its value. or even appreciate.
So I ask the Dopers at large: does anyone here collect fine art? How do you determine if the piece in question is priced fairly? What criteria do you use to judge if a piece will be desirable in the future? How much haggling is traditionally done?
I wouldn’t call myself a collector of fine art, but I do have several bits of original work scattered around the place. My criteria for spending a large wad of $$ on a piece of paper is based on how much I think its worth to me. Resale value is totally irrelevant (although I have professional evaluations for the good stuff). If you really like it, and you can truly afford it, then go for it.
As for haggling, it’s very much a context thing. My experience is that stuff in the US can’t really be bargained over, especially with painted stuff. Other countries expect, even demand, a spirited argument.
I would recommend searching for the artist on the internet, to try to find the prices that similar pieces went for at auction. This is a fairly good guide of how much the artist’s works are worth.
Years ago, I had a discussion along similar lines with a curator at the National Gallery of Art, where I worked at the time. The advice was this.
If you love it and can afford it, buy it. If you are worried about resale value, don’t buy it. Because if you are so concerned about the amount of cash you’re putting out and whether you can recoup it in the future, then you really can’t afford it.
FYI, the most I’ve ever spent on a piece of art was $2700. Other than my car and my home, it is more than I have spent on anything, ever. I have no regrets, and I did no research before or after to see if it was “worth it”. I was at an art show looking for large wall art, and I had just looked at a different piece and decided it was too expensive – it was $600. Ten minutes later I laid out more than 4 times that. Go figure.
I’m with Tapioca Dextrin & Boyo Jim. My belief is any original art I buy has zero, or near zero, resale value.
A Cezanne has appreciation. Something nice I found in a gallery for $500 - $5000 has none. Just like the gold & diamond ring you bought at some name brand store at the mall is not an investment regardless of the future price of gold bullion or wholesale finished diamonds.
Unless the artist is or becomes very well known at least locally, there isn’t a good way for you to sell the work later. No established supply/demand market, no galleries set up for single items (other than consignment junk shops), etc. Understand from the get-go that you’re buying at retail and will sell at wholesale or garagesale.
Art appraisal is a black art, and for artist without a reputation, more guesswork & puffery than anything else. It’s also a very small clubby world & the appraiser has more loyalty to the galleries in town than he/she does to any one-time retail purchaser.
My grandfather was a locally well-known artist in San Francisco in the 50s-70s. Despite a known name & an established body of work, even then prices in galleries for his stufff were all over the map. On resale, two appraisers would give values differing by a factor of 10 for the same work.
Today his work is worth essentially zero. In many ways it ought to be more valuable, being quality representations of scenes of a period now forever gone. But because he never achieved lasting fame, he’s forgotten & there is nobody to beat the publicity drum to drive demand and interest in his work. The folks who own his pieces like them, but when they have to sell, it’ll be a garage sale.
I don’t mean that to sound like I’m bitter; I’m not. I’m just well-acquainted with his case & consider it to be typical of talented professional artists nationally. I expect the artists you might buy from will end up similarly. I know that’s certainly been true of all the art I’ve collected from talented locals around the country over the years.
One other comment I would make. If the art is reproducable, typically sculpture sold as castings (eg http://www.worldbronzes.com/), you can often find those for sale through eBay or such for well below retail. Ditto prints. But for an original painting, buying it is gonna cost what the gallery/artists wants, period.
I have seen some room to haggle in the US, but not much. The worst prices are found in the galleries catering to visitors / tourists. I’ve had some sucess going around the gallery to the artist in that case. Only works if the artist shows in more than one gallery.
I agree with the ‘buy what you love’ vote. If you love it $3000 worth, then get it. If you’re going to be kicking yourself for years because you let it go over whether it might be worth more in the future, then buy it.
Is it priced fairly? Art is a true example of market forces; unlike prices for wrenches or potatoes, prices for art vary widely and aren’t based on any objective valuation. You are left with pricing art at the price the public will pay. But that’s not to say that an artist that’s very popular today will remain popular so don’t count on that. Buy it because you’re besotted.