The Value of Art – Money, Power, Beauty
“One of the best books ever published on the art world.”
— Milton Esterow, ARTnews
What is art worth? How can a work by Warhol be sold for more than $100,000,000? This critically acclaimed book, newly revised, updated, and generously illustrated throughout, explains the market for art—and art’s value for all of us.
In The Value of Art – Money, Power, Beauty, internationally renowned art dealer and market expert Michael Findlay offers a lively and authoritative tour of the art world informed by almost a half-century in the business and a passion for great art. With style and wry wit, Findlay explores how art acquires value—both commercial and social—and how these values circulate among the artists, dealers, and collectors that comprise today’s complex and constantly evolving art world. In the process he demystifies how art is bought and sold while also constantly looking beyond sales figures to emphasize the primacy of art’s essential, noncommercial worth. Coloring his account with wise advice, insider anecdotes involving scoundrels and scams, stories of celebrity collectors, and remarkable discoveries, Findlay has distilled a lifetime’s experience in this indispensible guide for today’s art lover.
“Findlay passes along his own, entertaining view of the art world's evolution over the past few decades. . . [He] champions the essential, intrinsic value of art—a subject addresses with passion”
— The Wall Street Journal
“Findlay’s The Value of Art…offers a wealth of knowledge (and gossip) about a life spent in the business of beautiful things.”
— Out Magazine
“The Value of Art is, above all, an elegantly argued plea to art lovers to never stop looking—and to never believe that a world has revealed all of its secretes.”
— Art + Auction