How Much $$$ Do Artists Make?

Breaking down the $$$ an artist might take home on the sale of one painting.

Money, 2023, by Mel Bochner, via Rosenbaum Contemporary

I often hear from people that art is so expensive. It’s not in their budget. Why spend so much money if they could just get something at HomeGoods or Target? But it’s not really about budget, it’s about where you find value.

You might find value in a $5,000 Chanel bag, others might find it in a $10,000 couch or $6,000 rug, some people might find it in a $12,000 vacation, or in the 27 pieces of Lululemon items they have in their closet, others find value in original art (or they might just want to financially support artists because they think it is an important part of modern culture and they want to be a part of supporting it).

But you don’t have to be rich to afford original artwork. You might have to spend more time looking for it, or hire someone (like me) to help you find it, but original, affordable artwork is out there.

I’m not here to try to convince you to value original artwork. You either do or you don’t, and while I wish everyone did, I’m not going to try to convince you. We all value different things, and that’s ok!

Why does some art feel so expensive to some people? I can’t speak for art in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of dollars, that is expensive. I mean, I can try to help you buy art at that level, but I would never say that I’m an expert in that tier of art.

To understand why some artists charge what they do for their handmade, original artwork, let’s break down a $5,000 painting.

Let’s assume some things for this example. Let’s assume this is a full-time artist, working out of a studio (not home), they make mostly large paintings and mixed media on canvas, and this is their full-time job. Obviously there are artists who only work small, or on paper, or work out of their home, and a myriad of other potential options. This is just one example.

Side note: I am in no way trying to tell anyone to not work with galleries. I work with them as an artist and as an art advisor and they can provide a lot of value and do a great job representing and selling artwork. A lot of artists don’t want to do the sales side of the business so working with galleries is a way to outsource that. However, it can be difficult to get accepted by galleries to work with them so it’s not always an option for artists, and many have to sell their own work out of necessity.

If the artist is working with a gallery, the gallery almost always takes 50% of the sales price. So for an artwork that the artist priced at $5,000, $2,500 would be paid to the artist upon the sale. This 50/50 split is very normal in the art world. The reason they have to take such a high percentage is because of their overhead — the cost to have a storefront in a good location, to employ people to have regular open hours, and the cost to move around and store art properly — it adds up. Not to mention the cost to simply run a business and spend the time making the relationships and doing the work of marketing the artists and their work.

Often in a contract with a gallery they bake in an approved (by the artist) percentage they can discount the work for consultants/advisors/interior designers, clients buying multiple pieces, or whatever the reason for the discount (you must be in the trade or a very repeat buyer to receive this from a gallery, in no way should you expect this discount). It is usually 10-20% that the artist approves. Let’s say its 10% in this case — the gallery gave a 10% commission to an advisor on this particular piece. The gallery would usually split that 10% with the artist, taking another 5% from the artist from the sales price, so that means instead of selling the work at $5,000 it would have been sold at $4,500 making the 50% the artist receives from the sale of that work $2,250.

Another side note — as an artist, I am happy to pay referral fees to art advisors or interior designers. I want people to want to purchase art from me repeatedly, and I’m fully aware that the client would probably not know about my work or be exposed to it had that advisor/designer not presented it to them. Not all artists offer this, or even know about referral fees/commissions when it comes to advisors or designers.

Often artists have to pay to ship their work to a gallery, and whatever the gallery hasn’t sold at the end of the contract, the gallery would pay to ship that unsold work back. Having done this myself we can use real numbers but this is definitely on the low side. I shipped ten large pieces across the country with a very affordable shipper for $600. So let’s say that’s $60 for this particular painting the artist already paid to ship the work to the gallery. Now we’re at $2,190.

Let’s factor in the cost of materials. The canvas, the paint (have you looked at the price of one bottle of Golden paint recently!?), the paintbrushes, the mediums, any additional items like fabrics, glue, hanging hardware — let’s be on the low side and estimate this at $200 for this painting. Now we’re at $1,990.

We also have to take into account the artists costs to run their business — website, software, accountant, studio rent and utilities, internet, design programs, marketing costs, bank fees, shipping supplies, etc. Let’s be low side of costs again and say the total costs to have a studio space outside the home and run a business are $1,500/month. Divide the total cost per year by the 60 paintings this artists makes in a year, that’s $300/painting, taking this painting down to $1,690 after a portion of the rent and business expenses.

$1,690 is the taxable amount after expenses. Let’s say this artist falls in the 22% tax bracket for single filers which would be income from $47,150 to $100,525. So 22% of $1,690 is $372 in taxes, plus let’s say 5% in state income tax which is $85 (California is the most expensive tax rate at 13.3% and there are some states that don’t have any, so we are going to use 5% in this example).

So on a painting, sold through a gallery, that the artist priced at $5,000, where we also estimated costs on the low end for materials, shipping, and business expenses (I also didn’t factor in health care) — in this scenario the artist would take home $1,233 after paying state and federal taxes on a $5,000 painting, and we haven’t even accounted for their time or things like health insurance.

Most artists don’t price their work by time because it’s something that’s not always clear, and it’s just not typically how it’s done. If they have one piece that takes significantly longer than others they might make it more expensive while others of the same size would stay at their normal pricing, but I think this is rare. Artists hone their skills for years, decades, all of that time is important and unquantifiable. This article on pricing artwork is super insightful.

If the artist were to sell the $5,000 piece direct to a collector (not through a gallery who takes 50%, and not through an art advisor/consultant who might take 10-20%), without giving any discounts for any reason, they would obviously make more money, but they would also have to spend a lot more time and money on marketing and advertising.

So let’s say they sold direct to the collector, and in this same scenario they would net $4,500 after expenses. But in this case let’s factor more marketing and advertising expenses at $200/month since they don’t have anyone (a gallery or advisor) helping them sell their artwork. So $4,300 before taxes, but take out 22% federal ($946) and 5% ($215) state taxes making the artist’s take home $3,139 on a painting they sold for $5,000. If this artist is spending a lot more time on their marketing because they sell their work direct to clients, then they probably have less time to actually make art, which means they have a lot less artwork to sell.

So the next time you think a piece of art is too expensive and you think artists are just raking it in, now you know, they are probably making a lot less than you think they are. And it’s HANDMADE ORIGINAL ARTWORK. One-of-a-kind. Unique. No one else will have it. Not made in a factory, but something made by an actual person.

Yes, there are some artists that for a multitude of reasons are doing really well, and that is amazing! I want that for every artist! But it’s a lot harder than people think it is to make artwork (that is good enough to sell), and sell artwork with a price tag in the thousands, and do it over and over again. There is so much more behind one piece of art than just the hours physically spent making that particular artwork. Many artists will have paintings stored around their homes and studios that they’ve had for years. It’s rare for artists to immediately sell all of their artwork, or even sell it all within the year they make it.

Just wanted to help people understand how much an artist might take home on the sale of one painting. If you want to learn more about how artists price their artwork, this article goes into a lot of detail.

Again, this is just one example, and there are so many different factors that go into this for every artist, and I have estimated expenses on the low end and simplified a lot of it just for this example. I just want to help demystify the art world and make it easier to understand, and easier to partake in. Artists, gallerists, advisors, feel free to chime in in the comments with your thoughts!

If you’re looking to start or continue your art collection, I love to help people understand what they are looking for and help them find it through my art consulting. I specialize in emerging and mid-career artists. Email me for more info.