Why you often can't find a price for a work of art. And why I understand your frustration about it so well.
If you are interested in art and buying works of art, you have probably already experienced that it is not that easy to find out the price for an original work of art. Let’s say you see a painting online and your interest is piqued. So you're thinking about buying the original painting.
You will probably first search through all of the artist's channels, only to be disappointed to find that you cannot find any prices. Most artists now have a more or less good presence on the internet or social media, but usually without any price information.
Now you are already slightly frustrated because you are used to finding out everything immediately and online. But it's simply common practice in the art industry NOT to show the prices for works of art online, no one wants to frustrate you.
A rogue might think that this is so that the artist can vary the price depending on the buyer. Of course I can only speak for myself, but I can still assure you: That is definitely not the case. Of course, prices are adjusted every now and then, but first of all there is the work of art and the fixed price.
I'll explain to you in another post soon how exactly the artist calculates his prices, because that's a topic in itself. But you can assume that the artist can clearly give you a fixed price for each work without thinking twice.
You can initially submit your price request via the website or by email without any obligation. I have often had the experience that people who are interested in my art have no idea at all about the price and then, during the conversation, it turns out that their assessment was way off. So you may be surprised by the prices, but in the best case scenario, you will be surprised!
This means that the price request is not embarrassing or unpleasant for you.
In order to avoid an unpleasant surprise for both parties, I recommend that you do not inquire about a specific work of art straight away, but rather simply ask in general terms what price range (from - to) the works of art are in. With an answer to this, you can quickly determine whether the artist offers his work within your budget or not. If it meets your price expectations, great! Then you can now specifically request your dream work of art. But if the costs exceed your expectations, then that's not a bad thing, because in the end you decide what you want and want to afford and no one will hold that against you.
But now things can get really unpleasant for the artist.
If you decide not to purchase the work, that is no reason to simply stop replying to the artist. You can and should communicate this clearly. And if you do this, you may be offered payment in installments or an alternative art print, or the artist may simply thank you for your interest. If you find out the prices and then simply stop contacting them, you are putting the artist in a really unpleasant situation. You will remain on the artist's radar for a while, even if you have already mentally said goodbye. He asks himself:
Did the email arrive? Are the prices exceeding the budget? Should I follow up again after a certain waiting period? Are you no longer interested? etc. So please get back to us in any case, I think that's just the way it should be.
And now let's talk about my prices.
In order to present my prices transparently to all interested parties, I have chosen the golden mean. My prices are not visible online either, but I offer my collectors and interested parties my digital art catalog. Here you can view all of my available works of art with prices and much more information such as shipping, visualizations, test hanging, etc. at any time and always up to date. And as an extra bonus, my new artworks are always shown as an exclusive preview in the catalog before they can then be seen live on my website or social media. You can find the link to my catalog subscription at the bottom.
Thank you for your curiosity about the price topic! If you have any questions, please write to me in the comments or simply send me an email. I'm looking forward to your feedback!
Heartfelt,
Your Karin