Paris center of the E.U. art trade

October 23, 2023

By Jonathan Wolfe

Plus: Paris’s growing influence in the European art trade.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Is Paris the new center of the E.U. art trade?

Since Britain’s vote in 2016 to leave the E.U., there has been talk about the heft of the European art trade shifting from London to Paris.

A growing list of international dealers have opened galleries in the French capital, and museums and spaces like the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Bourse de Commerce and the Fondation Cartier have featured major retrospectives that have been a draw for international visitors.

Britain’s art market still turns over more than twice as much as France, according to some estimates, but some experts and dealers say the needle has already begun to tip toward Paris. “The quality of the work is better, things are presented more thoughtfully,” said an art adviser in Paris. “And collectors like spending more time here.”