Rights of Artists: The Case of the Droit de Suite

Abstract

In that law of art, as in art itself, we innocents often look abroad for instruction. That process has been taking place with respect to the droit de suite, an addition to the copyright laws of France, Italy, and Germany, among other nations. Usually translated as an “art proceeds right,” the droit de suite is a technique designed to furnish artists with a portion of the increase in the value of their works when they are resold. Sometimes, as in France, a flat fee is payable to the artist or his heirs on the public resale of all paintings, and the fee must be paid whether the painting rises in price or not. In Italy, on the other hand, the artist is entitled to a droit de suite only on the increase in value of the work of art. The techniques used differ with respect to the resale covered (auctions, dealer, or private), the percentage of the resale price the artist obtains (three per cent in France, one per cent in Germany), the minimum price the object must bring before the mechanism is brought into play at all, and the length of time during which the mechanism operates (sometimes the life of the artist plus 50 years).