Notes on finding, buying and living with art, from the gallery.
Special edition · November 2026This guide belongs to the November special edition: certificates, provenance, resale and care.See the edition
When a work is sold again: the resale and the artist’s share
A work you love may one day go to someone else. How a resale works, what the artist’s resale right is, and why we like a world where the artist is not forgotten.
ByErick González
Collections move. A family grows, a house changes, a taste matures. Selling a work is part of the life of a collection, and done well it is also part of the life of the work.
How a resale usually works
The work is described and checked with its certificate and papers: provenance, condition, measures.
A price is agreed through a gallery, an auction house or privately. Each road has its own costs, which should be clear before you start.
The work and its papers change hands together. The certificate is passed on, not replaced, and the change is added to its history.
The artist’s resale right, in plain words
In many countries the law gives artists a small share when their work is resold through the art market. In French it is called droit de suite, the right to follow the work. As of November 2026, a few public examples:
The European Union has had it since a directive of 2001, applied by each member state with its own rules.
The United Kingdom has its Artist’s Resale Right.
Mexico’s federal copyright law recognises a resale share for authors of works of art.
The United States has no federal resale right.
Who pays it, from what price, how much and how it is collected change from country to country, and from year to year. This guide is not legal advice: before a resale, ask a professional where you live and where the work will be sold.
What we do
When a work with one of our certificates is resold through us, the artist’s royalty is booked in the certificate’s own record and the artist is told. The share is set on each certificate. See how a private sale works or, if you are ready to let a work go, tell us about it.
A question we hear
Can I promise a buyer the work will be worth more later?
No one can, and no honest seller does. A work is bought to be lived with; its market is a story told afterwards.
If you would like company
This is what we do every day from Mexico City: help people find, buy and live with original contemporary art, with its papers in order. Book a free 30-minute call, or look at how our certificates work.
This content is for information and education only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or tax advice.
Keep reading
- Why a gallery asks who you are
Being asked for an ID when you buy a work can feel strange. It is the law in many countries, it protects you as much as anyone, and done well it takes a few minutes.
- Caring for a work, and for its papers
A work asks for little: steady air, kind light, gentle hands. Its papers ask for even less: one place, one copy elsewhere. A Sunday-morning checklist for both.