Is Capitalism Ruining Art?

Artwork generated using OpenAI’s DALL·E through ChatGPT (prompted and composed by Tim Henley, 2025).

"We use art to combat the dark side of capitalism." — John Fetterman

Well, is it?

That's an excellent question, one I felt driven to address in my latest post. Any artist who truly values their craft likely dreams of earning a living by doing what they love—creating art.

It's not simply because we have a love for money. The straightforward truth is that we need money to survive. However, our contemporary commercialized society appears to prioritize material concerns above all else.

Vincent Van Gogh, said to have sold only one painting during his lifetime, and was thought to have been irritated by the commodification of art, so much so that he was dismissed from his brief stint at the Goupil & Cie in France where he served as a junior apprentice.

Ironically, his paintings are among the most expensive paintings in the world today. For instance, his Portrait of Dr. Paul Gachet is worth about $180 million dollars today.

Portrait of Dr. Gachet (Second version) van Gogh, 1890 oil on canvas

As I mentioned, artists need to make a living for their work (artists as defined here can mean musicians, dancers, visual artists, etc.), and this was a need van Gogh was certainly familiar with. But making a living with your (visual) art is fraught with difficulties; it has to fit the demands of the market, which, for the most part is already controlled by those with the cash and clout.

While I wouldn't claim that art is meant to fail under capitalism, it's clear that capitalism has often negatively influenced art. One reason why is that capitalism, as a system,, is designed to extract as much 'wealth' from the working 'middle' class as it possibly can, since this is where most capital is actually generated.

That fact of the matter is we live in a consumer culture that, for the part, values ‘style’ and shallowness over substance. I personally learned that lesson during my brief stint as an art teacher. I realized how little value I actually held in a society that values teachers only a little and art teachers even less. I realized it as I was assigned the status of a ‘floating’ teacher with no actual classroom of my own, pushing my makeshift cart with my meager art supplies and materials across campus in the wind and rain, papers blowing away in the wind as students laughed and staff shook their heads and rolled their eyes.

Even now, I’ve been compelled to put my creative impulses on the back burner because the need to earn capital takes precedence in this consumerist society.

Back in the 'old days', artists such as Michelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci would often find patrons to support their work, such as when Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, commissioned by Pope Julius II.

Ceiling of Sistine Chapel as seen from below, by Michelangelo (1508-1512) Photo by Julia Volk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/fresco-paintings-o-ceiling-in-cathedral-5273636/

During the Renaissance, it was quite common for artists to work for a wealthy patron for extended periods, allowing them to sustain themselves and their art. Similarly, today, many artists accept commission requests to create specific pieces for customers or clients.

The connection between art and capitalism is certainly complex. Although art hasn't been eradicated, capitalism has clearly influenced which art is produced, remembered, and valued. Consider the irony of Van Gogh's story—rejected due to his views on the commercialization of art, he died impoverished and in despair, yet today his works fetch millions—highlighting this tension.

The core issue isn't that artists want to profit from their work; it's that survival in a capitalist system requires it, often forcing artists to compromise their vision to meet market demands. Unlike the Renaissance patron system, which allowed artists like Michelangelo sustained support to create masterworks, today's commercialized art world frequently prioritizes marketability over meaning, style over substance.

My experience as an undervalued art teacher, literally pushing a cart through the rain, crystallized a harsh truth: our society claims to appreciate art while systematically devaluing those who create and teach it. When the need to generate capital supersedes creative expression, we all lose something essential.

So is capitalism killing art? Perhaps the better question is: what kind of art survives under capitalism, and at what cost? The answer may determine not just the future of art, but the depth and richness of our culture itself.

Whew. That was a lot- and ask forgiveness for the rant, but as you can no doubt tell, this is an issue that has been on my mind for some time. Next time I’ll be offering up some lighter fare as a palate cleanser. See you in the next one.