Guide
How to price a painting.
There's no single right price for a painting, but there is a coherent one. The goal is a price ladder that holds up across your shop, scales with size, and doesn't collapse the first time a collector asks for two pieces at once.
The per-square-unit formula
Pick a rate — say, $2/sq inch for early-career, $6/sq inch for mid-career, $15+ for gallery-represented. Multiply by width × height. Add materials. Round to a clean number. A 20×24" at $4/sq inch = $1,920 + materials, priced at $1,950.
Edition pricing for prints
Editions of 25–50 at three sizes is the common structure. Small prints at $40–80, mediums at $120–250, large at $300–600. Raise the price as the edition sells through — the last five should cost noticeably more than the first five.
When to raise your rates
Every time you sell out an edition or fill a wait-list. Every time you get gallery representation. Every year, quietly, by 10–15%. A rate that never moves signals a career that isn't.