What is the value of a work of art? It is a question that often happens to ask: meanwhile it is good to specify that there are more “values” of art, such as aesthetic, emotional or symbolic, or economic. The latter is often the most attractive criterion, because it quantifies the value of a specific work by linking it to a number.
So who decides that Salvator Mundi is worth more than a Pollock work? Or that the latter is worth more than a work of Renoir or Van Gogh? It is actually the simple law of demand and supply: The art market He decides how much a work is worth, in the figures of critics and journalists, galleries, museums and collectors. In particular, i critics he is journalists they can promote some artists giving them visibility and attention, the galleries they can give their physical space to expose and capture the attention of the buyers, and finally i collectors he is museums They determine this value being (or not being) willing to pay a certain figure to have a certain work.
On the other hand there are gods more objective values on which these are based estimates: let’s talk about authenticity of a work, of his conditionsof his rarityof portraitbut also of the style and of theorigin of the work.
The first auction To establish these criteria was the Goldschmidt salt of 1958managed by Sotheby’swho ended up in just twenty minutes by recording some of the first, great records in the history of art. The event in question, dedicated to the Impressionists, also became the first “Evening Sale“, The first evening auction-event that was also an opportunity for meeting and entertainment.
And before the art market? Before the nineteenth century, it was the candies to determine through the patronage the value of certain artistic currents or types of productions. So it was the emperors, the kings, the popes and governors who promoted the arts and direct them.
Nowadays the criteria evolve continuously, and the continuous buying and selling works makes the focus of interest change: even the enlargement of the market, and the movement of money from one part of the world make consequently change what you do assign value. An interesting factor, is that It is spent more and more for art. Which, among others, makes it particularly difficult for museums to expand their collections.
