Gallery representation

What is gallery representation?

Gallery representation is the relationship in which a gallery represents an artist, promotes them and sells their work for an agreed commission. It is not merely about hanging paintings on a wall but about long-term care for an artist's career. Put simply, the gallery becomes the artist's partner, opening doors the artist would reach only with difficulty alone.

How does it work?

The gallery presents the artist at exhibitions and fairs, seeks collectors for their work and takes care of how they are talked about, charging a commission on sales for its work. Under exclusive agreements, where the gallery represents the artist solely, that commission can be around fifty per cent. A good gallery builds not only an artist's career but, gradually, their price level too.

Why does it matter to a collector or investor?

Because good representation gives a work a credibility that collectors and auction houses both register. When a respected gallery stands behind an artist, it signals that their career has a plan and that someone is investing time and work in it over the long term. For a buyer it is one guide to whether a name will grow on the market or remain a flash in the pan.

What should you watch out for?

A high commission — around fifty per cent under exclusive agreements — is not an extra mark-up but payment for the gallery's costs and risk; even so, it is worth knowing exactly what you are paying for. Representation in itself is also no guarantee of rising prices: what decides is how strong the gallery is and how systematically it really builds the artist's career. And not every collaboration with a gallery amounts to full representation — in practice the line between occasional sales and genuine representation is a permeable one.

— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club