Working Paper: NBER ID: w9123
Authors: David W. Galenson; Robert Jensen
Abstract: This paper reexamines the process by which a market for a new product modern painting emerged in Paris in the nineteenth century. Contrary to the accepted account, in which the monopoly of the official Salon was replaced by a competitive market operated by private dealers, we find that the Salon was in fact initially replaced by a series of smaller group exhibitions organized by artists. The Impressionists were thus leaders not only in creating modern art, but also in developing its markets. Our reinterpretation of this episode yields a new understanding of the interactions between artists and markets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and for the first time highlights specific ways in which artists' behavior was affected by the structure of art markets during the first half century of the modern era.
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Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| initial structure of the French art market dominated by the academic system (Z11) | decline in authority of the salon (Y70) |
| increasing number of artists (Z11) | decline in authority of the salon (Y70) |
| decline in authority of the salon (Y70) | emergence of the dealer-critic system (D40) |
| emergence of the dealer-critic system (D40) | shift in focus from individual works to careers of artists (B31) |
| impressionists' need for new market structures (D40) | rise of private dealers (L81) |
| rise of private dealers (L81) | greater competition in the art market (Z11) |
| greater competition in the art market (Z11) | more favorable environment for emerging artists (Z11) |