Pricing Art (my two bits)

"Escapee" - original oil 6x6"


I recently received this email from a good friend and fellow artist:

"Ok, age-old question:  how do you price your paintings?  Do you do a per/inch type thing?  Or something else? And how do you even determine your prices? I think my prices are probably too low. But I feel crazy for saying that when I'm not selling anything!!  Help."

I've been asked this question before, it is age-old, and here is where I have settled with it:

Per inch is the norm, and the easiest.  Personally I just did what felt right for a few large to middle sizes and then worked out from there. Not a per inch formula at all. When things are selling well I gradually inch my prices up, when things are slower I go in to a holding pattern. Some artists have a business strategy of increasing 5-10% a year regardless of sales. 


How you determine price is based on many things: 

• quality relative to other artists you're selling amongst (local market) 
• time spent overall (how prolific are you) 
• reputation (awards/juried shows/ signature status in well-respected organizations/magazine articles/workshops taught/demand for your work are all things to consider here)
• whether you want to sell LOTS or are willing to sell fewer but get paid more for your what you produce. One of the ideas behind pricing lower than quality or time spent might warrant is that hopefully you will sell lots and get a name, while gradually increasing over time. This works well if you're prolific, but if your career path involves continually exploring challenging territory in your effort to grow as an artist, this almost always slows down the flow of commercial output. If you can be prolific while growing, awesome! 

My prices are on the high end of my local market, but I believe they are in line with the quality (as well as 20+ years of painting, and snippets achieved of each of the things I listed under reputation). Those selling larger works for half the price certainly sell more volume than I do, but I believe that things balance out in the end. My personal experience is that continually stretching is a very rewarding path to choose, but also produces many efforts that never wind up in a frame, and my higher price structure gives me some breathing room in this area.


From the beginning I have believed that people value things in part by how they are priced, and will question the value if something is priced low. Other folks, however, snap things up because they are affordable. I have an artist friend who makes 6 figures annually from his art, pumps out a mixed bag of quality (from excellent to not so excellent) but creates and sells tons of work, who says “The only people who care about good art are artists.” I don't think this is entirely true, I believe there are many collectors who recognize and appreciate high quality art, but I have also seen high priced, substandard work sell on a consistent basis, so it's not entirely untrue. Art sells for a lot of different reasons, quality is only one.

You must decide what kind of artist you would like to be, what market you want to go after, and after accounting for all the other factors mentioned, price according to that.

#1 rule, don’t price too high too early, because except in very rare circumstances, it is not a good idea to lower your prices, it suggests a loss of confidence in your work and is not a hit with your collectors.


If you trust your gallery, they can be an asset in helping you set prices, just remember that they have interests besides just you that they will take into consideration when guiding this choice. In all decisions regarding your career, the best advice I can give is do your research, search your heart, and do what will best serve your long term vision for your career.