Turnbull Studios and Sculpture Garden

Understanding the value of Art.

There are two ways in which art is sold in a gallery.  Art is purchased by the gallery and given a retail markup price and art consigned by the artist where the sale is split between gallery and artist.  If you are a savvy art buyer, you should ask if the piece you art interested in is consigned or purchased. 

Usually if the art is consigned, there is no extra gallery mark-up to permit price negotiations.  If, however, the gallery owns  the artwork and needs to turn over inventory, there is sometimes an opportunity to bargain for a better price.  However, a painting or a sculpture is not the same as a used car or toaster.  So this must be dealt with gently.  Most artwork is priced at the market value, so it is not often that work is “over-priced”.

So..How do you establish the value?

1.  REPUTATION;

The reputation of the artist is considered to be the most important of all.  The value of art comes down to who did it, what is it made of