Art critics and dealers agree: there is no try and through system of evaluating a piece’s worth. Given the equal amount of admiration one pays to cave paintings and advanced art pieces, no uppity, butt-hurt critic or artist can tell you can’t like a piece because it lacks certain qualities. And yet there are certain underlying conditions whose subtle symptoms make a piece cause a stir, get viral, and sell well. 

1. Its realness genes. 

We invest baffling amounts of value into items we consider authentic and get pissed when a supposed original turns out to be a cheap knock-off. With basic commodities like shoes or clothes, it’s obvious why so many of us avoid off-brand clothing: it wears out more quickly and is of poorer quality, but when artworks are concerned, the story gains a rather complex twist. In Faking, Foraging, Counterfeiting, Henry Keazor outlines the six stages in which an original turns into a fake: original – replica – copy – pastiche – imitation – fake, of which the least value carries the fake. Without getting too philosophical, each iteration of the original has some value: copies and replicas are mainly used by museums which can’t afford the originals but still want to educate folks on the value of history, whereas in pastiche works the artist borrows a particular style for their work, but still retains an original message, characters, and composition. So, it all boils down to the intention of the piece – to enlighten or to deceive – and if it’s been successful. 

 

2. The autograph on the bottom right.

Apologies for putting it so bluntly, but there is a grain of truth to this. The aura, eminence, provenance or whatever the artist has significantly increases the value of a piece. At one point, Salvador Dali was so well recognised he would doodle something on the back of restaurant checks and sign them as a form of payment, knowing well enough these are worth more than his meal. This then asks the question if one values the person more than the art? This was tested by Banksy who sold his original spray paints in Central Park several years back for only $60 apiece, when in fact each goes north of $30 000. 

3. Historical context. 

Art observes some fascinating development over the centuries and you can for sure find a noteworthy piece from each century that neatly encapsulates the richness and significance of the period. Claude Monet, if you excuse my constant namedropping, did a total makeover on art with his impressionist paintings; Mona Lisa was the average Renaissance lady before getting snatched from the Louvre in 1911; and who knows if Adele Bloch-by Klimt would be this much popular if its restitution from the Nazis after the war didn’t make headlines. There is also commission art like the Sistine Chapel that depicts the ongoing trends at the time; or pieces serving as a social commentary, such as Delacroix Liberty leading the people inspired by the July Revolution in France.

4. Evocative subject matter. 

It’s like reading your favourite genre: some prefer crime novels, while others go for sci-fi. In art, you have The Death of Socrates ни реалност Plato’s Academy – extremely figurative artworks that’s literal eye candy for history buffs and enjoyers of trad art alike. On the other side, you have the highly abstract pieces: the Rothkos, the Pollocks, the de Koonings that tend to compel the emotional side of your brain rather than the intellectual. This is the stage where we say ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and turn a blind eye to the pieces we consider not that impressive. 

5.  Juicy backstory.

Artistic products have lives of their own that often influence our appreciation of them. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars Goya was displeased with the turn society had taken and retrieved to his home in solitude for a long period, during which he finished The Black Paintings discovered only after his death. As no-one knew at the time what Goya was up to, many thinking the old man lost his marbles, the haunting, eerie oils made great headlines. Or when after years of getting away with murder (and finally murdering someone in a nasty brawl), Caravaggio sank into episodes of such severe self-loathing and ridicule that his own severed head appeared twice in his own paintings: once in Salome with the Head of John the Baptist and another time in David with the Head of Goliath as a way to assuage himself, so to speak, before God. 

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  There’s also form, medium, technique, intention and many other artistic subtleties the margins of this article can’t capture. The way to unravel each tenet of valuable art is to ask an artist directly. Luckily, we’ve done that for you тук. 

Провел интервюто Симеон Черепов