Kathryn Graddy

The art market comprises sales of visual arts, including paintings and sculptures. This market is both deeply internationalized and highly speculative. Marked by a deep crisis in the late 1980s, it has experienced an extremely strong recovery since the early 2000s despite a brief downturn in 2008-2009 following the sub-prime crisis. However, in the last two years, its spectacular boom has seemed to be running out of steam and a possible market downturn looms. In 2016, a study announcing the existence of a speculative bubble and the fact that it was bound to burst in the near future received widespread coverage. However, it is difficult to reliably anticipate such a reversal with great accuracy, since speculative activities rely on mimicked behavior. After presenting the main characteristics of the art market, this paper will analyze the specific form of copyright that applies to this market, the artist’s resale right. The analysis is supplemented by empirical studies and feedback from artists from different geographical zones.