Innovation, the act of creating change, has a knack for coinciding with youth. This is true in technology, and it is also true in art.

University of Chicago economist David Galenson charts the sea change from artistic tradition to reinvention, using the auction prices of paintings as his measure of value. Correlating the price of a work of art with the age of the artist at the time of the painting's execution, Galenson mapped the patterns of success and innovation over the past century in art history. His essays describe French and American painting, but their relevance is much broader.

Galenson's observations about art hold up a mirror to the world of high tech. They may also have something to show us about how the new economy works and how it can maintain its present momentum in the future. Can young innovators hold onto their capacity for invention as they grow older? Which movements will remain influential and which will be one-hit wonders?

Take a look at how artistic rebellions have played out in the history of painting. Just as upstart companies of the new economy -- early blockbusters like eBay and Yahoo -- unseated the traditional corporations of the old economy, so the young Turks of French, and later American, art bucked tradition in favor of something new and radical.

One hundred fifty years ago, the leading artists in French painting earned acclaim by way of many years of practice. French artist Honoré Daumier produced his most valuable work in his early 60s; Eugène Delacroix, in his late 50s; and Jean François Millet, in his 40s.

Half a century later, the tide had swung from gradual mastery to the radical new innovations of the young impressionists: Claude Monet painted his most valuable paintings in his late 20s and early 30s. Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot and Pierre Auguste Renoir reached the zenith of their careers in their 30s. Pablo Picasso's and Georges Braque's irreverent forays into cubism took place when the artists were only in their 20s.

Galenson spotted a similar shift in American art. In the years following World War II, the burgeoning American art world developed an appreciation for quick innovation, reserving particular acclaim for artists born after 1920.

Not that older American artists were without invention. The previous generation of American painters included more than just those who painted relatively traditional figurative art, such as Fairfield Porter, whose most valuable work came in his 60s. It also included Robert Motherwell, whose highest-priced paintings date from his late 60s and early 70s. Mark Rothko produced his most valuable work in his 50s, while Franz Kline created his highest-priced art in his late 40s. Even Jackson Pollock painted his most valued works near the end of his career, although he was then only in his late 30s.

The early bloomers, artists born after 1920, included Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, all of whom produced their most valued work while still in their 20s. Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Kenneth Noland followed suit, earning the highest auction prices for art done in their 30s.

Youthful innovators like these shocked the art world, whose members praised the prodigies for both their youth and their talent. These days, we're less easily impressed -- indeed, among today's techno-innovators, youthful megasuccess is the norm.

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