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How to price your art
One of the most frequent questions I am asked: "Who sets the price — the artist or the gallery?" Implicit in this question is the more general question, "What is a piece of art worth?" The answers to both of these questions are directly related.
The value of a piece of art is what a collector is willing to
pay for it. Of course there are many factors that are involved
in this willingness, but there is no such thing as intrinsic
monetary value in art. So ultimately, it is the collector who
determines the price that art can be sold for.
For the emerging artist, setting prices for their work is more difficult. As a gallery owner, I suggest a price structure based on what I believe I can sell the work. Every gallery has a different client base and a range of prices they sell their work. A major gallery may not sell anything for less than two or three thousand dollars, whereas a minor gallery may not have anything priced that high. So the major gallery will suggest a price structure for an artist's work that is quite different than a minor gallery.
 For the artist selling their own work, the pricing decision is always a dilemma. It is always dangerous to base your prices on another artist whose work you believe is similar to yours. Such decisions are often founded in ego and not in reality. Nevertheless, you are in a competitive situation so your prices must appear reasonable as compared to other artists offering similar credentials. The collector doesn't care a great deal about how long it took you to paint a piece or what you think its worth. The decision is what is it worth to him.
After an artist has sold paintings for a while, inventory
considerations come into play. If your inventory of paintings is
growing, then it would indicate your prices are too high, and if
your inventory is shrinking then they are probably too low.
Early in an artist's career, there is a fair amount of
flexibility in adjusting your prices. But once an artist has
established a pricing structure, it is difficult to alter those
prices significantly. If an artist drops his prices
significantly, he risks alienating his former buyers, who feel
they have paid too much for their earlier purchases. And if an
artist raised his prices significantly, collectors will be
reluctant to pay the new higher prices.
Continued
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