How is a painting valued?!
A painting is more valuable when there is sufficient information about the life and work of an artist. In retrospect, as in the case of Van Gogh who never really sold a painting in his life, his works became appreciated by the correspondence he had with his brother Theo and a few other fellow artists which were released to the public after his tragic death.
As it stands today the following criteria apply:
Obviously 99.9% of the competent and good artist's in the western world are overlooked. So we are dealing with a huge platform of artists that all hope to make it to the top, while in the meantime they still have to sell their works to put food on the table. An interesting topic that has been talked about by commercial art galleries and artists alike, is that there is no gradual increase from an upstart artist to a reach the level where international acclaim kicks in. This has created an enormous price vacuum, eg. A glass ceiling - say $1,000 - 20,000 then suddenly the next level is $100,000 -1,000,000 and so on...This has led to most artist's to stab in the dark and create works with either shock value or provocative in order to be noticed. While others are remunerated well and above the quality of their works, falsely impressing the masses and at times a deceptively cheeky contemporary artist gets all the attention and is endorsed by a known celebrity, and the "FAKE NEWS" so everyone will talk about their work. Therefore we have seen many cases of the proverbial "King without clothes" scenarios develop.
We have seen many movements from the post impressionists of the late 19th century to the current modern art, where such artist would create only "one hit wonders" eg The artist Edvard Munch "The Scream"... So it begs the question, what kind of painting would you hang in your living room? A provocative nude, a horror subject or a chaotic modern piece of art that you cannot explain...but say to your friends "I liked the colours or goes with my curtains" or was it purchased just for the signature all along? Inevitably, what is hanging on your walls will reflect the kind of person you are.
As it stands today the following criteria apply:
- The work of any given artist is most valuable if the composition is 100% original and the work is instantly recognizable.
- If the subject of the work is appealing and well executed.
- If the artists previous exhibitions were successful and prices gradually increased over the years.
- If the artists work was spotted by an important international art critic.
- If artists works have been endorsed by important collectors, media, well known public figures or national art galleries.
Obviously 99.9% of the competent and good artist's in the western world are overlooked. So we are dealing with a huge platform of artists that all hope to make it to the top, while in the meantime they still have to sell their works to put food on the table. An interesting topic that has been talked about by commercial art galleries and artists alike, is that there is no gradual increase from an upstart artist to a reach the level where international acclaim kicks in. This has created an enormous price vacuum, eg. A glass ceiling - say $1,000 - 20,000 then suddenly the next level is $100,000 -1,000,000 and so on...This has led to most artist's to stab in the dark and create works with either shock value or provocative in order to be noticed. While others are remunerated well and above the quality of their works, falsely impressing the masses and at times a deceptively cheeky contemporary artist gets all the attention and is endorsed by a known celebrity, and the "FAKE NEWS" so everyone will talk about their work. Therefore we have seen many cases of the proverbial "King without clothes" scenarios develop.
We have seen many movements from the post impressionists of the late 19th century to the current modern art, where such artist would create only "one hit wonders" eg The artist Edvard Munch "The Scream"... So it begs the question, what kind of painting would you hang in your living room? A provocative nude, a horror subject or a chaotic modern piece of art that you cannot explain...but say to your friends "I liked the colours or goes with my curtains" or was it purchased just for the signature all along? Inevitably, what is hanging on your walls will reflect the kind of person you are.
Why such great price differences?
Every art critic or commentator articles I have read so far seem to agree that the price of a painting is determined by two factors.
The better paintings are usually not seen on auction, but are more like resold through other top galleries. Therefore the best paintings of a given year are bought for pleasure and long term investment. In order to establish a price people often approach a curator who's opinion is based solely on the knowledge of the artist which can be traced by book, catalogues and art auction records. If this source of information is not available to the curator, they have to make a blind assessment. So it begs to question - are the curators always right???
Then we have the issue of "What is the flavor of the day" "What is the in colour for that year" or are people leaning toward minimalism. Trends come and go. What we see today among the general interior decoration is the retro 1950's when Picasso, Kandinsky and Pollock were all the rage. That period did not last forever, so it was followed by a mixture of realism, romanticism and surrealism and the wheel continues to change as the influences wane. Realism is forever, eg a bird still has two wings and elephant still has one trunk. Until there are more people born with 3 legs as a result of "evolution" they will return to classic realism.
- Traditionally the price of the paintings are too low when an artist has a sell out solo exhibition.
- If a solo exhibition in a gallery does not sell any of their works they tend to bee too expensive.
- The artists earliest debutante works
- Studies, reproductions or examples from other artists.
- Commissioned paintings using other well know works.
- Damaged paintings by fire, water, molds, chips, holes, scratches etc.
- Badly restored works.
- Execution prices due to bankruptcies etc
- Deceased estates which are poorly managed.
- Ignorance of auction houses.
- Paintings which were donated or gifts from the artist.
The better paintings are usually not seen on auction, but are more like resold through other top galleries. Therefore the best paintings of a given year are bought for pleasure and long term investment. In order to establish a price people often approach a curator who's opinion is based solely on the knowledge of the artist which can be traced by book, catalogues and art auction records. If this source of information is not available to the curator, they have to make a blind assessment. So it begs to question - are the curators always right???
Then we have the issue of "What is the flavor of the day" "What is the in colour for that year" or are people leaning toward minimalism. Trends come and go. What we see today among the general interior decoration is the retro 1950's when Picasso, Kandinsky and Pollock were all the rage. That period did not last forever, so it was followed by a mixture of realism, romanticism and surrealism and the wheel continues to change as the influences wane. Realism is forever, eg a bird still has two wings and elephant still has one trunk. Until there are more people born with 3 legs as a result of "evolution" they will return to classic realism.
Important points to know when buying a Jos Kivits
In my opinion it is extremely difficult to advise someone which painting they should buy, as every person will have a different reason why they like one work over another. If they are driven solely by what the eyes see and the heart feels, without being influenced by a third party (whoever they may be), they may still be restricted by how much money they are willing to spend and how much space they have on their walls. So we see that a decision which is made purely for decorative reasons without any previous deeper knowledge of the arts in general, is a very personal and therefore a reflection of their own inner tastes. If everyone would have the same tastes we might have had a choice of only a few paintings replicated by the billions. This is also one of the reasons why prints exist, for decorative purposes for the masses on budget constraints.
Having given the first reason why people desire a particular painting, but being restricted by budget, I go on to another reason which I'm sure would interest collectors of art. As in collecting anything from cars, coins, stamps etc for one with an unrestricted budget and eclectic taste, space is of the essence. Some collectors might not go for the biggest painting but may choose a smaller more important composition or buy many of them, or have one big painting and a number of smaller ones. Others again would rather have one important work which is impressive in size. We have seen works by other artists, that the bigger a painting the more expensive it should be....then there are examples like the "Mona Lisa" not the largest or the greatest work done by Leonardo da Vinci by a long shot, yet commands a guinness world record price and it's very small only 77cm x 53cm. How did it become more popular and more expensive than Leonardo's other works???...well this may be due to the story surrounding this particular work, making it a household name.
Every artist including Jos Kivits has created art that was immature in the early years of his career. They also may have copied the great masters for exercises during their student period. The more competent and mature the artist became in his works, the more they wanted to leave and achieve a mark of master-ship. Which means that they were able to compose an original work without the aid of a tutor/teacher and without the aid of computer/electronic or photographic projection. Studies were made of isolated subjects to be incorporated in later major works. In the case of Jos Kivits you will find this mark immediately after his signature as " ft " or in full " fecit " which is Latin for - he/she made (it) —used on an artwork (such as a painting, sculpture, engraving, or building) to identify its creator to distinguish them from other less important works. Therefore a painting of the same size and similar subject with this mark would be considered more important by collectors and curators alike, and could therefore be reflected in the asking price.
People that find a painting they genuinely love from the heart, usually would express it by saying " it took my breath away " or " it and brought me to tears " eg like a great piece of music that stirs the soul. I have heard comments like this more than once over the years when attending one of my fathers exhibitions. I also talk from experience having had the privilege to purchase a major work by my father and this painting had the same effect on me.
Having given the first reason why people desire a particular painting, but being restricted by budget, I go on to another reason which I'm sure would interest collectors of art. As in collecting anything from cars, coins, stamps etc for one with an unrestricted budget and eclectic taste, space is of the essence. Some collectors might not go for the biggest painting but may choose a smaller more important composition or buy many of them, or have one big painting and a number of smaller ones. Others again would rather have one important work which is impressive in size. We have seen works by other artists, that the bigger a painting the more expensive it should be....then there are examples like the "Mona Lisa" not the largest or the greatest work done by Leonardo da Vinci by a long shot, yet commands a guinness world record price and it's very small only 77cm x 53cm. How did it become more popular and more expensive than Leonardo's other works???...well this may be due to the story surrounding this particular work, making it a household name.
Every artist including Jos Kivits has created art that was immature in the early years of his career. They also may have copied the great masters for exercises during their student period. The more competent and mature the artist became in his works, the more they wanted to leave and achieve a mark of master-ship. Which means that they were able to compose an original work without the aid of a tutor/teacher and without the aid of computer/electronic or photographic projection. Studies were made of isolated subjects to be incorporated in later major works. In the case of Jos Kivits you will find this mark immediately after his signature as " ft " or in full " fecit " which is Latin for - he/she made (it) —used on an artwork (such as a painting, sculpture, engraving, or building) to identify its creator to distinguish them from other less important works. Therefore a painting of the same size and similar subject with this mark would be considered more important by collectors and curators alike, and could therefore be reflected in the asking price.
People that find a painting they genuinely love from the heart, usually would express it by saying " it took my breath away " or " it and brought me to tears " eg like a great piece of music that stirs the soul. I have heard comments like this more than once over the years when attending one of my fathers exhibitions. I also talk from experience having had the privilege to purchase a major work by my father and this painting had the same effect on me.