DROIT DE SUITE OR AUTHOR’S RESALE RIGHT: THE ART MARKET POINT OF VIEW

01/10/2019, Claudio Simonetti

No more starving artists! So goes one the historical mottoes of the Droit de Suite, also known as the Author’s or Artists’ Resale Right. What about starving art dealers? In recent years a growing concern has surfaced about the high number of small and mid-sized well-established galleries closing their premises or merging or dealers moving towards consulting services. Among the main reasons cited for the closures, such as the high fixed costs of maintaining a physical presence in prominent urban locations, or a drop of buyers visiting a gallery, or the disruptive effect of internet, the Droit de Suite, also known as Author’s or Artist’s Resale Right, is conspicuously absent. This (preliminary) finding seems to conflict with the concerns expressed by the art trade in Switzerland where the introduction of the Droit de Suite has been regularly debated. Since the Droit de Suite was not listed as one of the main reasons for the closures of art galleries, it is worth trying to understand what its impact on the art market really is.