Painting Value Calculator
A rough orientation, from medium, size, condition and the artist's standing.
$8,000 – $18,500
Listed / established · Oil · Medium
A named artist changes this entirely
An indicative range, not a valuation.
Why the range is wide
Two works of the same size can sit worlds apart. The artist decides most of it.
How much is my painting worth, and how the figure is reached
Art value is almost entirely a question of authorship. The same canvas, the same size, the same competence — one signature makes it a four-figure decorative picture and another makes it a seven-figure lot. Everything else adjusts a number that the artist's name has already set.
This indicator works in that order. It starts from the artist's standing in the market, then scales for medium, size, condition, signature and documentation. The range it returns is wide on purpose, and it is an orientation rather than an appraisal.
Find the artist first
Before any figure means anything, establish who painted it. Read the signature, then look for what is on the back: gallery labels, exhibition stickers, framer's marks, stretcher stamps, inventory numbers, old auction lot tags. The verso often tells a clearer story than the front.
Then look for comparable sales — the same artist, a similar period and subject, a similar size, sold publicly and recently. Auction results are the only prices that are actually evidence. Asking prices on retail sites are not, and neither is what a similar-looking picture is listed for.
What moves a painting's value
In descending order of effect:
- The artist, and where the work sits within their output — a strong period and a characteristic subject are worth multiples of a weak one.
- Whether the attribution is secure. A confident name, a catalogue raisonné reference or an accepted expert opinion changes the category entirely.
- Medium. Oil on canvas leads, then acrylic, then works on paper and drawings, with prints and reproductions far behind.
- Condition. Tears, flaking, heavy overpaint, relining and light damage all discount a work, and restoration is priced into any offer.
- Provenance and exhibition history, which underwrite both confidence and price.
- Size and subject, which matter mainly through demand: pictures that suit a wall sell more readily than very large or very dark ones.
Retail, auction and what you would be paid
A gallery price, an auction estimate and an offer from a dealer are three different numbers for the same painting. Auction returns arrive after the seller's commission and charges, so the hammer price is not what lands in your account. Work that out before you consign anything.
Questions we are asked
- How much is my painting worth?
- Start with the artist. Enter their standing, along with medium, size and condition above, for an indicative range — then confirm it against recent auction results for the same artist, since authorship decides most of the figure.
- How do I find out who painted a picture?
- Read the signature, then examine the back for gallery and exhibition labels, stretcher stamps and inventory numbers. Those, together with the style and materials, are how attribution is argued.
- Is a signature enough to prove a painting is genuine?
- No. Signatures are the easiest thing on a picture to add. Authorship is argued from the handling of paint, the materials, the documentation and expert opinion, with the signature as supporting evidence at best.
- Where can I get a painting appraised?
- For insurance or estate purposes you want a qualified appraiser working to a recognized standard. For a market opinion, the specialist department of an auction house will look at photographs without charge, since they are hoping to sell it.
Beyond the EstimateHave the work recorded
An indicator is a guide. A record is permanent.
No card asked for to open one.