I recently found an article about a previously unknown painting, No. 836, by Mark Rothko, an abstract expressionism painter. This painting is expected to sell at a whopping $18 MILLION! Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe every dog deserves his day but this painting consists of a canvas stretched over a wooden frame. The painting itself is simply two differently colored rectangles stacked on top of each other – I am just not seeing the $18 million dollar factor….

Another multi-million dollar artist is Damien Hirst. Perhaps one of his most infamous pieces is called “For the Love of God“. It is a platinum human skull, covered with 8,601 diamonds! This piece is priced at an astonishing $100 million, however the skull only took $23.6 million to produce….

These two artists and their pricey artwork got me thinking – what is the true value of a painting or piece of artwork? Is it the sentimental value an owner holds for the piece, a number some gallery owner slaps on it in hopes of making a profit, does it all come down to the name the artist has made for himself or is it just how much someone is willing to pay for it?

Let’s focus on the question – what’s in a name? How does an artist “make a name for him/herself”? Is it method, madness, materials? Subject matter, personal history or time and location? Why are some artists considered great and others forgotten? And possibly most important – who is it making the decisions that could name an artist’s work priceless or leave him penniless?

Tags: abstract expressionism, Damien Hirst, Diamond Skull, for the love of god, Mark Rothko, Multi-million dollar artwork, painting no.836, platinum skull, pricing artwork, skull artwork, white cube