Pricing art work

neverdespairgirl

FatVonD wrote: »

I'm assuming it's good, it isn't a GCSE piece but A level and for the OP's son to opt to take an art A level to me says that he has some talent and probably intents to continue down the creative career choice path.

The principal is the principal of a college (not the headmaster of a school) where presumably art is one of their speciality subjects and where there will be many talented students all pooled together in one place but the principal has chosen the OP's son's work therefore I believe it has some worth, certainly more than minimum wage.

That's an awful lot of presuming. Both my sisters did art A level, as did 3 of my closest friends. None intended to make it a career path, nor was the school specialist. It's a pretty standard 3rd or 4th A level choice.

Blackpool_Saver

I still say he should keep it

System

If I were OP's son I would ask his art teacher. He/she would have an idea what to charge for it.

A friend of a friend priced her large abstract paintings at a few thousand pounds each. I thought this was a lot of money considering she is not well-known and (to my eyes) the paintings just looked like paint that had been thrown onto large boards. She ended up putting them on EBay but didn't get anything like that amount of money for them.

Wilma33

Is he buying it for the school or for himself? If he is just buying it to display in the school as one example of many ex-students' pieces then I doubt he is prepared to pay very much (<£100). If he wants it for his living room at home then I imagine he is prepared to pay more!

SleeplessinScandinavia

middlewife wrote: »

My son painted a large landscape 150cm x 70, acrylic on board for his A level extended project. The college principal wants to buy it and has asked DS for a price. I am totally ignorant of the art world, it took 15 hours to paint, plus cost of materials £25.
Realistically 15 hours min wage plus materials is roughly £75.
Would this be a fair price -I think it's very good, but then I am a bit biased.
Son hasn't seen it since the college exhibition as the principal removed it to his office.
Any ideas on negotiation?

I think that realism is always important in pricing artwork.

Lets face it, any piece of art is a luxury product that you don't absolutely need to have (in the way you need food and electricity) - and in today's economic climate...

If your son isn't sure why doesn't he say 'Well I don't really want to sell it' (leaving the door slightly open for the 'buyer' to make an offer) and try and then 'squeeze out' a bit more (15% say)

150x70 cms is a good format for a landscape; off the top of my head I would say £100-150 could be a good guide price.

You've worked out the cost of the time spent - but your son knows how much the painting means to him, and whether the offer tempts him.

As I say, the price needs to be realistic; I take it your son isn't a well known artist - and at this stage, selling something is not just about money, but the positive encouragement that someone likes his work enough to want to buy it. I think artists always have to believe that their best work is yet to come.

Whatever price he agrees to sell for, for goodness sake keep a photographic record: I sold a painting to my former headmaster (in 1970) and have long regretted that I didn't photograph it for my 'CV'