Four Phases of the Parisian Art Ecosystem: From Royal Academy to Global Art Fair
For the better part of three centuries, Paris was the art capital of the Western world. But the ecosystem that made it so — the network of academies, juries, dealers, critics, collectors and exhibition spaces that decides who gets seen and who gets paid — was never static. It went through four distinct phases, each defined by a different gatekeeper: the royal court, the official Salon jury, the private art dealer, and finally the global market of fairs and mega-galleries. Tracing those phases explains not just how Paris became the home of modern art, but why it lost that crown — and why it is fighting for it again.