| Abstract: |
Many art critics and scholars argue that art markets are irrational, and that
there is no correlation between prices and artistic importance. This paper
identifies all living artists who have executed at least one work that has
sold at auction for at least $1 million, and ranks them both by the highest
price for which any of their works have sold, and by the number of times their
works have sold for $1 million or more. These rankings show that the most
valuable art is made by the greatest artists: the leaders in these tables,
including Jasper Johns, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter,
and Jeff Koons, are clearly among the most important artists alive today. This
study also underscores the fact that the most important art of the past 50
years has overwhelmingly been made by young geniuses who have made radical
conceptual innovations at early ages. |