How much to pay for an original painting?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a friend who has been kind enough to paint an original painting for me. I saw his work and asked him to do this painting as a present for my girlfriend.

He has finished the painting, and now we must negotiate a price. I want to be fair and pay him what the painting is worth, although since he is a friend and an easygoing sort of person I am sure he will accept what I’m willing to pay. I just don’t want to insult him.

So now I am asking dopers (and doper artists) for advice on what might be a fair price. Here are some factors to consider:

  1. He is not a professional artist, although he is quite talented. This may be the first time he has been paid for a painting.

  2. He is a friend, but not one of my best friends or anything. We’re just in some of the same social circles.

  3. The painting is fairly large, like something you would hang above the sofa. The painting is not a special job per se; he was already working on a series of paintings and I asked if I could buy one of them.

I was thinking of paying around $200.

2

Do you have any idea how long it took him to create? Perhaps you could figure something like (totally making up numbers here) $35 / hr he spent on it, plus throw in $40 for materials. Don’t tell him you calculated an hourly rate of course :dubious:

3

Bumping this for another try.

4

aaslatten, I don’t paint but I’ve purchased a few originals and can tell you about that.

The first one I ever bought I purchased in a gallery from a professional. I suspect that you are not considering paying that much for this.

The second one was perchased from my undergrad’s department secretary. She displayed her paintings all over the place, and I loved them. She asked $100, and the piece is what I conider “average painting size”. I can’t go in and measure it or the third one just now.

The third one is also “average painting size”, and we bought it from a professional/weekend warrior type in Hyde Park, London on our honeymoon. It cost us ~$250, but my experience in London was that if you’re going to pay $16 in the States, you’re going to pay ₤16 in London. That said, it was ₤150.

So, your figure of $200 may be about right or it may be a hair low.

I hope this helps.

5

$200 is what came to my mind from your description as well.

6

The best doper to ask would probably be JinWicked. Most of her stuff sells in the $200 - $400 range (icluding framing)