You mean like van Gogh (and many others), who died poor and unknown and whose success came only after his (their) death?
Yes, it's strange, that during their lifetime no-one bothers with them.
I think their fame comes from businessmen and businesswomen who see that a DEAD artist cannot produce anymore - the work is LIMITED.
To cut it short, this kind of thinking reduces artists to their ability to produce
anything. To produce
at all.
This reminds me of the way of thinking of Nazis: productive people are good people. Unproductive people are bad people, only producing costs, therefore not people who should live - this is how Nazis thought. That's why they killed thousands of handicapped people, for example. Both mentally and physically handicapped.
They reduced people as well to the factor of produciing - yes ? No ?
In the end, I fear, this is the essence of economy: To reduce someone to his or her ability to produce something.
People which cannot produce anything are only generating costs - from an economical point of view.
And this way to see is inhuman.