Tag Archives: geneva

An art market without rules? The new Freeport opportunity in the UK

Posted on: April 15, 2021 by Eve Gatenby

“Our clients choose us because we have no priority above their property,” remarks the guide touring Robert Pattinson and John David Washington’s characters through a freeport in Christopher Nolan’s 2020 thriller Tenet. The underground vaults they are walking through are alluringly filled with artworks that give subtle hints at Impressionist and Abstract Expressionist masterpieces. These two characters […]

Crowdfunding allows Swiss to retain a Picasso

Posted on: August 2, 2018 by Hélène Deslauriers

In December 2017, a Swiss crowdfunding website, Qoqa, offered visitors to the site the opportunity to purchase a Picasso painting, Le Buste du Mousquetaire (1968).   For three months, a careful and efficient campaign was mounted, culminating in a victory, with sufficient funds raised to buy the Picasso. Le Buste du Mousquetaire now belongs to the Swiss people.  […]

The Bouvier affair and the problem of secret commissions

Posted on: April 6, 2016 by Tony Baumgartner

In the course of 2015 a scandal of potential significance to dealers and their clients emerged. Allegations involving Yves Bouvier, the well-known art dealer and the largest private shareholder in the Geneva freeports (Ports Francs & Entreports de Geneve SA), came to light when Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian oligarch, brought civil and criminal proceedings against […]