“I acquired it for less than $500 at auction”!

Are very cheap works at auction totally insignificant? Absolutely not! In January, more than 30,000 works changed hands at auction prices below $500, representing a total turnover of $6 million, and there were plenty of major signatures among them.

Put another way…Can you acquire an interesting work for less than $500 at auction? The answer is Yes, and the numbers bear it out. In January alone, this segment of the market saw an explosion of transactions with more than 30,000 works selling at low prices, proving that art is indeed accessible to nearly all collectors.

Artprice offers you an overview of this dynamic market, with concrete examples of works sold in January, and the names of the artists who often appear in this price range.

Sections:

Dali, Chagall, Picasso… great artists for less than $500
Kunisada I: the best-selling Master in the under $500 price range
A budget conducive to rediscoveries

Dali, Chagall, Picasso… great artists for less than $500?

The affordable art market is full of unexpected treasures, from creations by somewhat forgotten artists to pieces by iconic figures such as Marc Chagall or Hiroshige Ando. For example, during the January 28, 2025 auction hosted by Revere Auctions (USA), around twenty Hiroshige prints were offered starting at $100, illustrating the affordability of certain works by recognized masters.

In January 2025 alone, the under $500 price range included around sixty lots by Salvador Dalí, around fifty by Corneille and approximately forty each by Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall.

But what exactly are these works by great masters that are accessible for just a few hundred dollars, and why should we be interested in this segment of the market?

What the market really offers for less than $500

With this budget, options are often limited to prints that are signed in the plate (i.e. the signature is printed directly onto the sheet) and exhibition posters or unnumbered editions, sometimes produced in several thousand copies. But, you can also find more interesting pieces. For example, a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter with garland by Pablo Picasso, from an edition of only 250 copies, fetched $485 during an online sale hosted by the Canadian auctioneer Empire Auctions. A rare opportunity at this price level!

By Chagall, you can find prints published in large quantities such as the 2,500 copies produced by Maeght for the Derrière le Miroir collection. The large editions allow you to acquire superb prints at very affordable prices, including one of the 6,500 copies of Sarah and the Angels, sold for $216 at the end of January at Burstow Hewett, in the UK. This print, dated 1960, was printed by Mourlot, the official lithographer of both Chagall and Picasso.

By Corneille, several small original paintings from the 1940s, a less popular period for the artist, sold at very affordable prices. Among them, one Vue de ville animée, 45 cm high, sold for only $372 (Primardeco in Toulouse on 31 January 2025). Collectors generally favor the more recent creations by this Dutch artist, co-founder of the Cobra movement alongside Karel Appel. In January, several colorful works from this period were offered for less than $500, but only in the form of prints, often printed in editions of 200.

Salvador Dali – whose anagram “Avida dollars” aptly summed up his relationship to money – started signing blank sheets for his publishers from the 1960s, with the image added afterwards. This led to the appearance of tens of thousands of “fake” prints by the Catalan master on the art market, which explains the presence of very affordable lots, sometimes for less than $100. Although it can be difficult to assess the authenticity of some of his works, most of the “forgeries” date from the period after the 1960s. However, some of these lots still manage to fetch more than $1,000 or $2,000, even sheets from this ‘difficult’ period.

Despite the multitude of prints in circulation with Salvador Dalí’s signature, the absolute champion of the under $500 price range at the start of this year is another master from the other side of the planet, the Japanese artist Kunisada I.

Estimated numbers of lots by these artists sold at under $500 in January 2025 :

KUNISADA I
Lots sold: 12
Turnover: $18,146

Hiroshige ANDO
Lots sold: 34
Turnover: $8,959

Pablo PICASSO
Lots sold: 30
Turnover: $6,103

CORNEILLE
Lots sold: 51
Turnover: $14,176

Marc CHAGALL
Lots sold: 39
Turnover: $8,677

Salvador DALI
Lots sold: 73
Turnover: $18,663

Kunisada I: the best-selling Master at under $500

Kunisada I (1786-1865) is both an essential master of Japanese prints and an artist whose works are easy to find at auction. More prolific and popular than Hokusai and Hiroshige during his lifetime, he dominated the ukiyo-e school in the 19th century. However, his immense commercial success did not prevent his relative eclipse in the face of other figures who are now better known in this movement.

Kunisada I remains very popular with fans of Japanese prints, especially since 90% of his lots are accessible for less than $500. In January, more than 120 of his works were sold below this threshold, making him the best-selling Master in the world in this price range at the start of the year. With a budget of $200, you can even acquire diptychs or triptychs. These compositions, designed to interact with each other as part of a narrative, add depth to any collection.

The most prolific artist of his time

To respond to the enthusiasm of his time, Kunisada I produced over 20,000 images with the help of fifty artists in his immense workshop. Some, produced in editions of 7,000 copies, have traveled around the world, making his works still accessible today, well beyond Japan.

However, as time has reduced their number, it is estimated that there remain between 1,000 and 2,000 copies of these large-scale engravings in circulation. These boards, often affordable at less than $500 (or much less in the event of minor damage such as faded colors, traces of humidity or small tears), offer rare value for money, considering the capital importance of Kunisada I in the history of Japanese art.

NB: the value of the prints depends as much on the quality of the print, its state of conservation and its rarity as on the subject represented. Among the most popular themes of Kunisada I, we find the portraits of the actor, Ichikawa Danjuro VII in the role of Kan Shojo, or Iwai Hanshiro V in the role of Yaoya Oshichi. However, these exceptional prints can sometimes fetch over $30,000.

Where to buy works by Kunisada?

In January, there were sales all over the world: mainly in the United States and France, but also in Germany, Australia, Italy… So there is no need to limit yourself to Japanese auction houses to unearth these treasures.

Artprice’s advice: To avoid missing any auction opportunities, activate the “heart” next to the name of Kunisada I on his Artprice page. This will add it to your favorites and you will receive all the information about upcoming auctions of his works.

Discover HERE what Kunisada I works will soon be offered for sale

A budget conducive to rediscoveries

Beyond the vast world of prints and the big name signatures that it sometimes offers, a budget of $500 offers numerous opportunities for ‘discovery’. By this, we mean that you can explore lesser-known artists or rediscover painters that the market has neglected. Among these, for example, we find abstract artists from the 1970s and 1980s whose artistic endeavors marked their era. These artists, whose works are often shown by relatively small galleries here and there and are occasionally integrated into museum collections, nevertheless remain very affordable, with paintings selling for only a few hundred dollars.

Rediscover abstract painters

Several little-known European artists, in the vein of abstract and colorful creations, are accessible in this price range. For example, a painting from the early 1970s by Antonio Scordia sold for $489 at Casa d’Aste Arcadia. The surprisingly low price contrasts with the career of this Italian artist who participated in the Venice Biennale of 1952 and exhibited at important international events. In 1976 he enjoyed a retrospective exhibition at the Palazzo Barberini.

Likewise for Pierluigi De Lutti, whose paintings sell for between $200 and $500. Despite modest prices, this artist was noticed by the New York MoMA, which invited him to join its The Artist’s Viewing Program after spotting one of his works in the early 2000s.

Another case is that of Michele Drouin, a Canadian painter and poet whose work was the subject of around fifty solo exhibitions, notably in Canada, New York, Paris and London. In late January of this year, a large acrylic measuring over a meter sold for just $485 during a Waddington’s online sale.

Lastly, on January 16, the Parisian auctioneer Ader offered around forty paintings signed René Ben Sussan, a painter, illustrator and engraver who made very popular illustrations for literature classics like Balzac’s Father Goriot and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. These works, with their geometric and colorful shapes, sold for between $200 and $300, represented a rare opportunity to acquire paintings that were both affordable and full of character.

These artists, with truly creative and professional backgrounds, operate in a relatively small market. Known and followed by a much smaller population than the major signatures, their works are exchanged at particularly low prices. These values would of course be positively sensitive to any museum event that decided to bring their works back into public attention. But, for the time being, their works remain essentially pure pleasure investments, offering unique angles on some of numerous artistic experiments and endeavors of the 20th century.

With a budget limited to $500, the auction market offers a lot more than just ‘curiosities’. Prints by essential artists, unique works by little-known painters or unexpected rediscoveries, this segment proves that art can be accessible to everyone, without compromising on quality or provenance. Each acquisition, even modest, can open the door to a rich and varied artistic universe. In short, this price bracket represents an excellent opportunity for curious collectors and art enthusiasts looking for authentic pieces at low prices.

Affordable Art Auctions – Cheap Art Prints – Art on a Budget