What can I learn from how Picasso approached creating and selling art?

Picasso left behind 45,000 works when he died, but he certainly didn’t sell all 45,000. What he was doing throughout his career was constantly testing new ideas, styles, and approaches. Not all of them were hits—that’s the game. Those 45,000 pieces were steps on a path to finding the works that were home runs, the pieces everyone wanted and that defined his biggest successes. His styles varied dramatically over the years because he was always pivoting and experimenting. This illustrates a critical principle: even at the highest levels of art, you need to be constantly testing, iterating, and pivoting to find what truly resonates with your audience. Rapid testing and experimentation aren’t signs of failure—they’re part of the process of finding your biggest successes.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-10-17