What holds Great Britain’s fate in the European art market post-Brexit?
Great Britain is today the second largest art market in the world, behind the United States. China, which is third, could benefit from the English market’s contraction due to Brexit. In Europe, Paris and Berlin could also attempt to make their presence felt on the Continent even though their respective markets are far behind London in size.
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Other than Paris, the art market doesn’t really have another place that could take London’s leadership away. Germany could attempt to seize the opportunity to increase its domination in Europe, but it’s national market is far behind (5% in market value worldwide according to the recent report TEFAF 2016).
With 21% of the value of the world art market according to the recent report TEFAF 2016 (a drop of 9% compared with 2014), Great Britain is without a doubt the leading place in the European market. London has currently no competition of its size on the continent, Paris being relatively far behind.
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Gregor Kleinknecht, partner at Hunters, the Lincoln’s Inn firm, added: “Brexit will force people to think again about temporary importations: if the auctioneers were forced to pay certain taxes for importation prior to a sale, that would pose a significant problem for auction houses and London might lose its position in the international market.”
Read the full article in the Art Media Agency (AMA) July Newsletter here.
