Value of art

Art is an object with no utility, as the economists would say. The utility of a painting is zero. It has spiritual value, but no utility, like an orange, for instance, which gives you calories. So when you buy a painting, you are saying: "I am going to trade my hard work and sweat of my brow for something that is completely ephemeral and has no physical utility at all." Now when we trade with each other, we're assuming that we, as a group can determine the value of something that has no value - it is purely an agreement between conscious entities. That has to be highest expression of human economics, in a sense, and therefore it makes sense that art is the most expensive thing in the world.

Marc Glimcher