Shaping the European Art Market: Post-Colonial Restitution Demands and Twenty-First Century Legal Instruments:

Abstract

Almost no part of the world was unaffected by European colonisation. The largest European colonial empire, that of the British, was as large as 35.5 million km2 in 1920, covering more than 25% of the planetary landmass.1 The other notable European colonial empires included the French, the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch, as well as Russia, a transcontinental country. The Belgian colonial empire appeared at a slightly later stage. This paper concerns developments in the European colonial empires after the Berlin Conference of 1884, on the contemporary art trade. These empires witnessed the rise and fall of cultures, communities, and languages, among others. The economic, religious, and political consequences of colonialism included looting, destruction, and the unlawful retention of property, including cultural artefacts, heritage, and art. The legal ramifications of the genocide and plunder of that era remain in dispute to this day. Several European institutions, both cultural and commercial, hold art from formerly colonised states. The international and domestic regulation of that matter is of considerable import in the present day.