In their paper, Quantifying reputation and success in art, Samuel Frailberger and his colleagues analyzed the careers of 496,354 artists in terms of the prestige of where their art was exhibited. They wanted to find out what factor made it more likely for artists to have their work consistently exhibited at high-prestige institutions.
Their analyses revealed that the determining factor that separated the elite artists from others was neither their talent nor prolificacy, but the strength of their networks.
Artists with strong networks were almost five times more likely to have their works sold in comparison to artists with weak networks. Furthermore, the average maximum price of artists with strong networks was nearly $200,000, while that of the artists with weak networks was barely above $40,000. Finally, artists with strong networks were more likely to maintain their status as elites, as opposed to artists with weak networks who were more likely to quit their careers.
The lesson here is straightforward: Your network plays a big role in determining your net worth, especially in fields where everyone is equally talented and committed to excellence.