The Emergence of a Market for Art in Brazil

Abstract

This chapter contextualizes the current expansion of the Brazilian art market, tracing its roots in the postwar period and the market and institutional field of modern art connected to the emergence of a wealthy middle class in the country. The development of an institutional base and the delineation and professionalization of a group of cultural entrepreneurs occurred against the backdrop of change and instability, marked by alternate periods of economic instability and boom and the military dictatorship and subsequent democratic transition. The early years were marked by exchanges with foreign art institutions and the pioneering role of first-generation migrants in setting up galleries and auction houses. A first, national, boom of the art market took place in the 1980s. More recently, the fields of art and culture more widely have been characterized by neo-liberal policies, exemplified by the laws of fiscal incentives, and a growing international vocation.