Why are paintings so costly?

its because the person spent so much time and created the picture in their minds (or from scenery etc) and was talented enough to bring it to life.. he might have had to go to art school too so there is that expense and the supplies.. a lot of artist dont make much because they may not really make it big so they lose money when you add it all up..

Paintings are so costly because as buyers we are actually taking home a part of the artist soul. Everything they are gets put into a painting- so it stands to reason that the cost for something so wonderful would be high. Hope this gives you another view point to see from.

I think that the price tag associated with original paintings may be associated to a few things. First would be the amount of time and talent and materials put in by the artist. Also, you're buying a unique piece of art. There will never be another like it for the rest of existence. Even if the artist painted the same picture twice, it would still come out slightly different based on the way the paint mixed and the way it blended and dried.

The way I see everything is....people wont ask rediculous prices for things if there weren't people out there actually stupid enough to buy high priced things...that why the world is f-ed up.....people get curious and take a chance and if they can get one person to buy something at one price and they keep rising the prices to see where people will and wont buy.....thats the world of business and money making....I learnt that in college..... So if business's would just think of the crappy economy and lower the prices of EWVERYTHING it would help people make their money go further...and if EVERYONE made ONE hourly rate instead of 13.00 and higher dollars that would keep people from fighting and being greedy..... I can paint like Bob Ross since i was in third grade so if you want a painting lol....I'll customize it abit so I dont get in trouble lol

I think that people are so willing to spend unholy amounts of money on original art because it is just that, original art. It's something that came directly from the artist and no one else can ever have the REAL piece. I personally am content to own nice prints of the original art (mostly because the art I would like to have costs more money than I will ever see in my lifetime!. To me just being able to view the image that I like is enough. It doesn't really matter whether it is an original or not.