Een onderzoek van Philip Hans Franses, hoogleraar Econometrie aan Erasmus School of Economics, naar de 'piekmomenten' van gerenommeerde kunstenaars is opgevallen bij het Amerikaanse magazine Pacific Standard, dat er een artikel aan wijdde d.d. maandag 25 november jl.
Economist P.H. Franses of Erasmus School of Economics in the Netherlands examined the question (red.: When Do Painters Make Their Best Work?) from a different perspective, and came up with a fascinating result. In a newly published paper, he reports that painters create their most masterful works (at least as determined by the marketplace) “at the 0.618 fraction of their lives.” Franses examined data on 221 famous painters of the 19th and 20th centuries, 189 of whom have died. He compared their total lifespans with the year they created what is today their most expensive work.