The world of high end art collecting is a small, exclusive club that consist of the wealthiest individuals and families in the world and their cadre of minions who serve as brokers and experts. Legendarily opaque, the collector community is no friend to transparency as they seek to protect the identity of buyers and, often enough, the identity of the art itself. But this embargo on information has been partially broken with the release of the Panama Papers as they reveal the extensive use of offshore entities as art holding entities. Of particular interest was the use of Panama by the Nahmad family, owners of a major gallery, to shield art from claims by the descendants of those that had lost collections to Nazi expropriation. But the use of these overseas entities in the art world is unlikely to end anytime soon due to the explosive rise in prices in recent years as the world’s elite seek new investment avenues. So stay tuned until the next data leak when more information about who owns what is likely revealed.
See Jake Bernstein, Panama Papers shed light on secret deals of art world, The Irish Times, April 7, 2016.
