Are people born in a particular generation good judges of which artworks of their own era will stand the test of time?

The composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf was at least as popular as Mozart in the late 18th century, but we don’t even consider them to be comparable now. It seems to me that judging what of the contemporary culture will last is virtually impossible to do. We can all make guesses, and some of those guesses will be correct, but it will mostly be a matter of luck. Few things are obviously classics right at the start. So while I agree that I probably place more importance on some of my favorite things than my father would, I’m not sure he is in any better position than I am to judge what will last. We’re both just too close to it all.

Judging by the sad stories of such artists like Vincent Van Gogh or Edgar Allan Poe, I highly doubt it. XD

and what @SavoirFaire said.

That would be akin to telling the future, right? Who can say what people two hundred years from now will consider relevant? The very fact that Andy Warhol was popular… or look at it from another angle. Who is totally revered today? Those Kardashian girls, Snookie, Paris Hilton, Brittney Spears, Justin Bieber, what do our ability to choose people to revere today while we’re all alive and contributing say about us? Looking back from that vantage point, they’ll probably think we were all drooling idiots.

Yes and no. Yes, you are biased. No, you may not be a good judge of the lasting impact of a piece of art.