Is art a luxury? How much importance do we give it? How much do we invest in art? In the answers to these questions lie some of the keys that explain the decaf figures for art in Spain. They were released by the Fundación Arte y Mecenazgo through the study El mercado español del arte 2014, carried out by Clare McAndrew, founder and CEO of Arts Economist.
The health of the Spanish art market is delicate. Even though it has managed 3% more sales in galleries and auctions than the previous year (2012) and has recorded its third consecutive year of growth. The numbers show fragility and remain practically the same as at the start of the crisis. Over the last ten years, up to 2013, the Spanish market grew by 68%, a much lower percentage than the 155% achieved worldwide.
And this is where Spain does worst. Although it's true that, in Europe, the figures make the cut, putting it in sixth place with a 2% market share, behind the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Austria. Look at the global level and the situation gets worse. Last year only 1% of global sales came from Spain. A figure that looks unfavourable compared with countries around us. France, for example, reached 6%. To this we have to add that the Spanish market has much lower prices than the European average.
Why these numbers? The economic crisis has hit hard, and then some, but the report points in other directions.
Paradoxically, given the general climate of crisis, the number of Spaniards with assets of up to 800,000 euros rose by 24% between mid 2013 and the first half of 2014, with 465,000 people handling at least that sum. So one of the main conclusions to be drawn from the study is that there is wealth in Spain, but it isn't spent on art.
The crack starts in education. In the lack of a stronger humanistic grounding in the education cycles, which deepens the scant collecting tradition. Turning it into a sector most people barely come into contact with. And when they do, it's through the media coverage of some outrageous sale. Spreading a conception of art as something elitist and incidental.
The rich don't invest and everyone else sees it as remote and out of reach. What is the Government doing?
The Administration underlines the elitist premise. It still treats art as a luxury good and gives it a very low priority. Far from looking for incentives, as it intended with the shelved Patronage Law, it applies tax measures that are a long way from any stimulus.
As the study points out, the difference between the tax conditions imposed on art in one country and another can cause the market to migrate. So the high VAT rate may convince foreign clients and collectors in the country to buy elsewhere.
This mentality, so far from the Anglo-Saxon one, which understands art as culture and accepts that culture generates economic benefits, perpetuates the precariousness the sector suffers and that the numbers reflect.
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