By Josh Stein · Founder, Art of NOMA · writing on the emerging-art market since 2023
Gallery pricing looks arbitrary from the outside, and galleries rarely explain it. It is not arbitrary. It follows a fairly consistent logic — a base rate set by the artist's record, scaled by size and adjusted by medium — and knowing that logic makes you a better buyer.
Size is the starting point, not the finish
Most galleries begin with a rate based on the artist's current standing, then scale it by the dimensions of the work. This is why two paintings by the same artist, made in the same month with the same care, can differ substantially in price.
It is a crude instrument and everyone knows it. A small painting can be the better work. But it gives a consistent, defensible starting figure across an artist's output, which matters when you are pricing dozens of works a year and need to be able to explain any one of them to any collector who asks.
The practical consequence for a buyer is that size is the cheapest thing to compromise on and the most expensive thing to insist upon. If a budget is tight, a smaller work by an artist you admire is almost always a better purchase than a larger work by someone you admire less. You are paying for square centimetres in one case and for the artist in the other.
Career stage sets the rate
The multiplier itself moves with what the artist has actually done: solo exhibitions, group shows, institutional interest, press, works in collections that matter, prior sales at a given level.
This is the part collectors most often misread. When an emerging artist's prices rise, it is usually because that record has changed — not because the gallery is testing what it can get. A solo show at a respected institution genuinely does change what an artist's work is worth, because it changes how many people are competing to own it.
It also means the record is something you can check. Ask what the artist has shown and where, then look at whether those are places with a real curatorial reputation or simply places that took a booking. That distinction is most of what separates a price that will hold from a price that will not, and it is available to anyone willing to spend twenty minutes reading.
Medium changes the maths
- Unique works — paintings, one-off sculpture — carry the highest prices, because there is exactly one.
- Editions are priced against scarcity the gallery has chosen. A small edition costs more per print than a large one, and the edition size matters more than most first-time buyers realise.
- Works on paper typically sit below paintings by the same artist, partly by convention and partly because they are more fragile and need framing.
- Photography is priced almost entirely by edition and print, not by image.
The editioned mediums are where a modest budget goes furthest, and it is worth being explicit about why: an edition spreads the cost of making and promoting the work across every print, so each one carries a fraction of the burden a unique work carries alone. That is an economic fact, not a statement about quality. Our guide to prints, editions and originals covers the distinctions in detail.
What does the gallery's share pay for?
A commission split between gallery and artist is standard practice across the industry. The exact figure varies and most galleries do not publish it.
What matters is what the share funds: photographing and cataloguing work, writing about it, exhibitions, fairs, shipping and insurance, finding collectors, and carrying the artist through the years before the work sells reliably. A gallery that does none of that is expensive at any percentage.
This is also the honest answer to a question collectors sometimes ask quietly — whether they could avoid the margin by going straight to the artist. Sometimes, and it is a real option worth understanding rather than a taboo. But the gallery's share is buying an artist a career rather than a sale, and an artist without that support is often harder, not easier, to buy from well.
Why prices almost never come down
This is the single most useful thing to understand.
An artist's price level is a public record. Discounting one work sets a number that every future buyer, and every future gallery, can point to. Dropping prices to move inventory does lasting damage to an artist's market and is one of the clearest signs of a gallery in trouble.
Modest collector discounts exist and are ordinary — particularly for people who buy repeatedly. Deep discounts are not a bargain; they are information about the gallery. How to ask, and what is reasonable to expect, is covered in discounts, payment plans and how collectors actually pay.
What to ask before you buy
- Has this artist's price level changed in the last year, and why?
- What has the artist shown recently, and where?
- For an edition: how large, which number is this, and are there proofs outside the edition?
- Is the price inclusive of framing, shipping, or neither?
None of these are rude. A gallery that cannot answer them is telling you something. If any of the vocabulary in the answers is unfamiliar, the collector's glossary defines it.
We work with artists early in their careers, and we price accordingly — on what an artist's record currently supports, not on where we hope it goes. Prices are published on the work rather than held back, because a price you have to ask for is a price that can change depending on who is asking.
You can see the range across original paintings, photography and limited edition prints. If you want to understand why a specific work is priced the way it is, ask — we will tell you.
Verified 25 August 2026 against Art of NOMA's live published prices. Commission splits vary between galleries and countries and are described here in general terms rather than as a fixed rate.
Art of NOMA is an official Artsy partner gallery based in Mexico City, representing around forty contemporary artists and more than 250 original works across painting, photography, print and sculpture.
Frequently asked questions
How do galleries decide the price of an artwork?
Why do two paintings by the same artist cost different amounts?
Why do emerging artists' prices go up?
What does a gallery's commission actually pay for?
Why won't a gallery lower its prices?
Why are prints cheaper than paintings by the same artist?
Sources
- Art of NOMA — original paintings — live published prices for unique works
- Art of NOMA — limited edition prints — live published prices for editions
- Art of NOMA — artist roster — the exhibition records the rates are set against
Want to know why a work is priced as it is? Ask us — our prices are published on every work rather than held behind an enquiry. Start with the roster.