How to sell a painting.

Many artists wonder how to sell their paintings. Despite the fact that artists are creative people, approaching the sale of their artwork requires a pragmatic and somewhat cynical mindset, similar to real business processes. Currently, the most expensive painting ("The Scream" by Munch) was sold at an auction at Sotheby's for 120 million dollars. Considering that the artist himself was born into a poor family and lost his mother and older sister at an early age, Munch could not have imagined during his lifetime that someone would pay such a high price for his artwork. Studying the biographies and creative paths of artists from the past, one can highlight a couple of useful moments that will help understand what needs to be done today in order to sell one's work. How did artists sell their paintings in the past... Many talented artists from the past lived in poverty and settled for little. Their talent was only appreciated by society after their death, largely thanks to enterprising art dealers who artificially inflated the value of their works. The most striking example is Vincent van Gogh. During his lifetime, he was only able to sell one painting. He ended his life in a clinic for the mentally ill, where he committed suicide. However, after his death, the value of his works skyrocketed, thanks to calculated German dealers. Fortunately, most artists did not have such tragic lives. For example, Paul Gauguin worked on trading ships, served in the military fleet, and then found employment as a stockbroker, which provided him with a solid income. He discovered his passion for art at a mature age, already having a substantial fortune. There were also examples of artists whose talent was recognized by their contemporaries. A prominent example is Rubens. During his lifetime, he obtained the position of a court painter. Many noble and wealthy people of that time considered it an honor to commission their portraits from him. Talent, luck, diligence, life...These are the circumstances that constitute success. Thus, it can be concluded that the path to fame for artists of the past differs little from that of contemporary creators. How to sell a painting in the 21st century? What price should paintings be sold for? You need to answer the question of how much the painting should cost and who you are going to sell it to. Selling a painting whose cost price is 2000-3000 rubles for tens of times more is also an art. There are many articles on the internet that say that the final price of your painting should be based on the assessment of a month of your life or the time you spent painting. If a young artist decides to adhere to these principles, declaring prices for his paintings at 100,000 or 200,000 rubles everywhere, then the chances of selling his work are close to zero. The target audience is the main factor in pricing in the art business. If you live in a small town where the purchasing power of the population is not high, then the price of the painting should be set based on the financial capabilities of the population. For example, if the average salary in the region is 15,000 rubles, the price range for paintings should be from 10,000 to 40,000 rubles. Paintings do not belong to everyday demand goods, so there is no need to engage in dumping. Gradually, your popularity will grow and the price of your work can be increased. If you are a famous and popular artist, then the price of your works depends only on your name and greed. It is also important to understand who and for what purpose is buying the painting. Who are the buyers of your paintings? The first and most desired group of buyers are investors. These people acquire paintings with the aim of preserving and increasing their capital. They are quite knowledgeable about art and will not pay a lot of money for a work by an unknown artist. You can sell your painting to them if youYou can get to know them personally or through an art dealer. But by making such a deal, you automatically raise the prestige of your name and, accordingly, the value of all your subsequent paintings. The next group of buyers is the so-called "pseudo-investors". They buy works by little-known artists for small amounts of money, visit secondary exhibitions and art dumps. And they will never buy a painting worth more than 30,000 rubles. The next group of buyers is people who want to buy a painting to decorate their interior. These are quite well-off people, but they are not willing to spend a lot of money on an "interior item". A price range from 500 to 1000 dollars would be a reasonable offer for them. And another group of buyers is people who fell in love with your work. Their financial capacity can be completely different, the main thing here is that your creativity was appreciated. I know some artists who simply gave away their works in this situation. Where and how to sell paintings? Now let's consider the ways to promote your works to the end buyer. First of all, it is personal contacts and connections. Perhaps among your acquaintances and relatives, there are people who are able to financially appreciate your creativity or recommend you to someone. If there are none, then attention should be paid to your own portfolio. In the 21st century, everyone who wants to be heard should have their own website or blog. The next way to sell paintings is through art dealers. The dealer, together with you, will determine the price of the paintings and their commission. Usually, it ranges from 30% to 50%. Here, you just have to meet an honest and enterprising person. The methods of work of some dealers are very questionable and ineffective. How to earn money by selling your own and other people's paintings? For some reason, it is believed that only artists can make money from painting. Although let's be honest - not everyone succeeds at it.One of them, and all because most modern painters have already claimed the title of "genius" for themselves (unrecognized, as you understand), and now they are waiting for a patron or a wealthy collector to come to their studio to buy a painting for a million. At the same time, they do not even understand two elementary things: - modern painting can bring millions to those who want to engage in selling paintings; - anyone can earn money from modern painting, even those who do not know how to, and even do not intend to paint. All you need for this is a painting. Draw it or buy it, as its presence with you is the only thing that matters. After that, immediately start selling the painting. But remember that if you really want to make money from painting, you need to know initially that the painting you are planning to sell must have the following qualities: - It must be as large as possible, at least 1m by 1.6m, as its main purpose is to be hung on the wall of a huge apartment or expensive mansion. - It must be truly modern, and in order to understand the trends of modern painting, all you need to do is read a few articles on "modern painting" and "the most expensive modern paintings." - The painting must be beautifully framed – expensive stretcher bars, frame, and nails (not staples) used to attach it to the canvas are mandatory! So, now you have such a painting, and you must try to sell it. And for this, there are several ways. One of them is to try to sell the painting through countless virtual galleries by posting a photo of your painting on as many similar websites as possible. However, practice shows that paintings that are priced at no more than $100-150 sell well there, while anything more expensive hangs in the archives of the websites for many years. And the option that is the most correct and profitable out of all existing ones is...The essence of it is that by arranging the documents for the export and sale of a painting abroad (referring to America, Western Europe and developed Asian countries), you go with your painting to any of the capitals of the aforementioned countries. And there, you spend several days visiting all the art galleries, of which there are more than 1,500 in just Paris, and certainly no less in London, Berlin, and Tokyo. Do you think it's pointless? In that case, it's time to talk about the prices of canvases exported by our artists and art dealers abroad. So here it is: European and Asian galleries buy paintings that we sell for 300-400 dollars at a price that exceeds ours by at least tens of times, in order to display these paintings in their galleries and sell them for 50, 70, or even more thousands! By the way, you can also get close to those amounts, but only if the gallery pays you after the painting is sold, taking their "legal" 50-60%. But we would not advise you to do this unless you are a highly skilled and well-known artist whose name can be marketed, making it popular and therefore highly paid. Accept the option of instant painting sales, receiving 3-4 thousand euros for each canvas sold by you. Believe me - this is more than a decent payment for two weeks of work. That's how long you'll need to buy paintings, arrange export documents, transport and sell all the canvases you acquired, and return home as a secure person. So as you can see, to become rich from selling paintings, it is not necessary to know how to paint. Our project was initially created for selling paintings through the internet and, again, it was initially aimed at Western buyers. The strategy has proven to be successful. We continue to "expand" and give any author the opportunity to publish photos of their paintings on our website.In fact, "breaking into Europe" is to promote their work. By opening your pages on our website, you can forget about "promoting" on the internet and peacefully focus on your creativity, and we will take care of promoting the website and your pages in particular. The traffic and ranking of your pages will be tens, if not hundreds, of times higher than if you create your own personal website. This is not just talk, it is reality. It's wonderful if you already have your own website or pages on the internet. In addition to them, you can also showcase your work on our platform and provide a link to your website on the pages created here. Visitors from our gallery will then be directed to your website, where they can view all your other works. We plan to create several more sections, as well as conduct real promotional activities and so on. We also plan to sell paintings in the new and prosperous Chinese market. We believe that luck is on our side - our virtual art gallery is not just a business, it is also a hobby.