Where can I find the status of painters?

It has been a long time since artist’s status was determined solely by notions of aesthetics or origin. In 2016, a French start-up created I-CAC (Indice de Cotation des Artistes Certifiés). This index makes it possible to develop a rating index for each artist. Created with the aim of democratising the art market and speculating on works, it is nonetheless a modern and objective index of the current rating of artists.

Speculation and special value  

Each field of art (painting, sculpture, etc.) responds to specific laws and codes. The financial stakes surrounding an artist’s production can be more speculative than aesthetic, since the commercial value of a work can be guided largely by the interplay of supply and demand.

These speculative considerations evolve according to the reputation of the artist, but also according to the rarity of the works of this or that artist, in general or in a given period of artistic creation.

Beyond the commercial value, the emotional, aesthetic or simply personal value that a work may have also plays an essential role in the artist’s standing. Art is a matter of sensitivity and taste that is purely subjective.

Building a painter’s status

For artists whose reputation is well established, it has been built up over the years, with successive sales and sometimes fluctuating fads. Contemporary artists build their fame on their career as well as on the actual sales of the artist and his presence on the international scene, particularly at fairs such as the FIAC, Art Basel or Paris Art Fair.

For artists emerging on the national or even international scene, it is the galleries that can create demand and high ratings. It all depends on the degree of involvement of the gallery and the enhancement of the works, through various collaborations, openings, press articles, or reports. Offering a professional showcase to a beginning contemporary artist is a very important opportunity for the latter to sell his or her works and make a name for himself or herself on the art market. 

Purely factual criteria related to the work, such as the format of the painting, the technique used or the implementation of this technique, have little interest and hold on the artist’s rating in reality.

The democratisation of information about the status of painters

Artists can make a name for themselves on the art market and impose their name from the moment at least one of their works has been submitted to the public eye and sold. This first sale provides a starting point for the listing of a previously unknown artist on the art market.

This rating is very evolutionary, depending on tastes, fashions, but also simply on the passage of time. The end of the 2010’s and the beginning of the 2020’s saw the development of a pronounced taste for impressionist and contemporary paintings and a rejection of antique furniture. Fashion, like taste one might say, is a perpetual resurgence.

The auction sites provide information on the current status of painters, including estimates and auction prices of the paintings offered for sale. This information can be found in specialist art magazines such as the Drouot gazette, but also on the sites of the auction houses directly. This approach gives an initial idea of the painter’s price. Be careful, however, for the prices posted on auction house sites, the fees to which buyers are subject must be deducted from the hammer price, which generally represent 20 to 30% of the auction price.

Other specialised sites such as Artprice make it possible to determine the artist’s rating thanks to an objective and scrupulous survey of the selling prices of paintings. These sites reflect the evolution of the art market and an artist’s rating, where aesthetic judgement has no place.

Our expertise site is made up of painting experts in particular who will be able to give you the best information on the current artists’ prices in order to sell or buy at the fairest price.

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