Polish consumers buying behaviour on the art market

Abstract

The art market in Poland that in 1989 started to develop its own organizational structure after a long period of absence is strongly centralised. Over the last 22 years it has been represented by several auction houses. The volume of transactions involving works of art is still very small, however the market’s potential estimated at around 3.5 billion zlotys is huge. The stormy years of economic crisis affecting also the European economy have contributed to the prosperity of the global art market on an unprecedented scale. This paradox arises from the fact that works of art become important as alternative investment when financial markets are in turmoil and investors urgently seeking safety switch their interest towards a class of assets unrelated to the financial market at large. With economic deceleration in Poland, all major parameters of the country’ auction market started rising. The number of works of art sold at auctions in the recent years has increased by 30%, accompanied by a growing activity of auction houses. These circumstances are important arguments for investigating consumers’ buying behaviour on this market. To this end, based on the earlier survey, an attempt is made to analyse factors having significant effect on the purchase of works of art. The article is structured as follows. After giving an outline of the Polish art market, it moves on to explaining the nature of a work of art and then to presenting consumer behaviour on this market. The last part includes conclusions.