What the artist earns when you sell a work again

Imagine a work you bought ten years ago finds a new home. You sell it, the buyer is happy, and somewhere a painter who priced that canvas when nobody knew their name hears nothing about it. The resale royalty exists to change that last part.

A share of the second life

When a work of art is sold again through the art market, its artist receives a small share of the price. In France it has been the law for a century, and across Europe it is the rule for sales that pass through a gallery, a dealer or an auction house. The idea is simple: a work's value grows with the artist's whole career, and the artist should see some of that growth.

How it works here

Every work that leaves this gallery carries a certificate whose history is a ledger. When a collector opens a work to offers and it sells again through the gallery, the sale is written on that ledger, the certificate is transferred to the new owner, and the artist's royalty is booked at the same moment. The artist receives a note of it, and so does the seller: two records of the same sale, neither of them money, both of them permanent.

Why a seller should like it too

A clean history sells. A work whose every owner is on the certificate is easier to sell than one with a gap.

Nothing to calculate. The gallery books the royalty and settles it with the artist; it is written on your note of sale, never a surprise afterwards.

The artist stays on your side. An artist who is paid on resales has every reason to keep the work's story alive: shows, catalogues, a word to a curator.

Two small questions

Does it apply when I give the work away?

No. A gift is not a sale. The certificate is transferred, the history stays whole, and no royalty is due.

Does it apply outside Europe?

Laws differ by country. On this site the royalty is part of every certificate, wherever the work travels: it is how the gallery works, not only what a law requires.

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. Book a free 30-minute call, or simply look at the works available now.

Image: “Espino II” by Darío Phillipi.