This annual report aims to act as a barometer for the emerging Art and Finance industry, to highlight the main trends and developments, but also to capture and measure the changing motivations and perceptions among its participants.
This year’s report comes at a challenging time for both the art market and the wealth management industry. With art market growth showing signs of slowing towards the end of 2015 and in early 2016, combined with slower economic growth, increasing volatility in the financial markets and geopolitical uncertainty, the picture is becoming more complex and unpredictable. Maybe it is exactly this uncertainty that draws people towards art and as this report shows, the awareness and motivation for including art in traditional wealth management are becoming increasingly apparent, although not without its own set of complexities.
To address these issues we have invited 39 key opinion formers, representing different key stakeholders in the market, to express their views on what they believe are opportunities and challenges for the art and finance industry now and in the future.
As the art and finance industry is becoming increasingly global, we are also pleased to announce that what started as a local initiative in Luxembourg in 2011 has now become a truly global Deloitte initiative. Also, we are proud to announce a new partnership with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam to provide complementary services.
Moreover, in collaboration with Deloitte Italy, we are delighted to have contributed a chapter to the book L’art advisory nel private banking—Opportunità e rischi dell’investimento in arte, which was published in December 2015—an AIPB initiative (Associazione Italiana Private Banking). This publication analysed various aspects of the Italian and international art market, including articles on investing in artworks, related tax and legal aspects as well as art advisory models for banks. We are also thrilled to have participate with Deloitte Austria to an Austrian publication called “Das Sammeln zeitgenössischer Kunst,” a manual for all art collectors and art enthusiasts who seek practical guidance for an increasingly complex art market.