Why is abstract art worth so much when it's certain artists that painted it?

[all'swell]

Don't get me wrong, I have great respect for abstract artists like Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, van Doesburg etc...But why is it that these paintings can sell for millions of dollars? And how could MY paintings sell for that much, or could they?

[LucaPacioli1492]

It's not just that they ARE abstract; it's that they break new ground in being abstract ( e.g. Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism -- not completely abstract but not realistic etc. ). There should be an intellectual component ( e.g. Mondrian wrote extensively about what he was doing and merely making pretty tile patterns doesn't come close to approaching his work ), there should be a systematic body of work, and it should produce some kind of desirable response in a viewer ( often merely in the mind of an influential critic ).

In the case of Jackson Pollock, later investigation using fractal analysis revealed depths of his work that was likely not apparent even to the artist ( although the artist passed through a period when he was even unable to create works of quality equal to an earlier time ).

There is usually an element of novelty although that has been overdone and even perverted with such works as those of Mapplethorpe, "Piss Christ" and the use of manure as an artistic material.