Getting the Measure

A new EU Report holds to task the British fine art market, estimated to be worth some £4.2 million per year. From 2006, the droit de suite directive will put a tax of up to 4% on all resales of works by living artists, or those who have been dead for less than 70 years, with the proceeds going either to the artists or to their heirs. As a result, generous options will open up for artists. The predicament of Eduardo Paolozzi was recently discussed in The Independent, who now lives in a home following a debilitating illness, at considerable cost to his family. The proceeds of the tax would mean this cost would cease to be a problem.