A Washington State University study says that a single percentage point increase in Google hits on an artist equates to a hefty price increase of 38 percent.

Arzu Aysin Tekindor, an artist and economics PhD candidate, studied "the value of painting and the fame of an artist" in a data set comprised of 1,100 paintings auctioned from 1998 to 2011.

Results of the study show how an artwork's size, subject matter, ownership and other factors influence pricing. For one, each time a work sold at auction the price decreased by 15 percent on average; however, multiple owners increased price by 8.5 percent with each exchange.