Narcissism and the Art Market Performance

Abstract

Using a unique auction dataset from artinfo.com, we find that narcissism measured by the signatures of artists is positively associated with the market performance of artworks. The artworks of more narcissistic artists have higher market prices, higher estimates from auction houses, and higher outperformance compared to the art market index. In support of this narcissistic view of the market performance of art works, we find that the higher recognition by art experts lead to more narcissistic artists having a greater number of solo and group exhibitions, more museum and gallery holdings, and higher art history rankings. More narcissistic artists also tend to make larger paintings and date their works more frequently.

Keywords: Narcissism; Art; Auctions; Investments; Hedonic Regressions; Repeat-Sale Regressions; Human Capital

JEL Classification: G02; Z11