CZECH REPUBLIC Trends and Developments Contributed by: Daniela Kozáková and Pavel Široký, ŠIROKÝ ZRZAVECKÝ, attorneys-at-law
The Czech Art Market General overview
and only in the last decade have the professional rules of the art market started to become established. Sev - eral rules remain built upon laws that were established in the 1960s during communism, although amended several times – eg, the cultural heritage legislation. Nowadays, certain rules do not necessarily suit the current state of the art market, society and trends, and sometimes cause rather a burden on the art mar - ket, although the latest legislation changes focus on removing these burdens. Some purchasers remain unaware of the applica - ble rules and the legal aspects of buying works of art, which makes them vulnerable to dishonesty and causes potential purchasers to lose confidence in the art market. Under Czech law, “fakes” are not legally defined. However, from a civil law perspective, if a fake is delivered instead of the original authentic work, the performance is different to that agreed in the pur - chase contract. As part of the warranty, the seller is obliged to sell and transfer to the purchaser a piece of work of the quality, implementation and dimensions agreed in the contract. Court proceedings may be complex, time-consuming and, in civil proceedings, also expensive for the plain - tiff. Thus, the general advice to purchase artworks from reputable entities also applies to the Czech art market. The market expands by number of lots and online The data confirms the ongoing trend of the auction market shifting into the online environment (source: Livebid.cz). While roughly 400 fewer items were sold at floor auctions compared to 2024, online auctions saw an increase of 13,500 items sold, over 89,600 in total (including not only artworks but also other col - lectibles). Meanwhile, the number of floor auctions and their supply has remained stable. In contrast, online auc - tions are experiencing long-term growth and signifi - cantly expanding the overall market supply every year.
Although more of a local market, in the past few years the Czech art market in the Czech Republic has been constantly growing. After the record-breaking year of 2024, data recording public auctions in 2025, how - ever, shows that participants at public art auctions in the Czech Republic spent CZK1.2 billion Czech, which is the second-lowest result in the last decade. Despite the lower overall turnover, many new artist records were set (692 new auction records were set; 165 of the auction records were in a category of works over CZK100,000), and average prices for auctioned works in certain segments continued to rise (source: Yearbook Art+ 2026). From the COVID-19 pandemic onwards, there has been the need to be able to react flexibly, and online and digital tools are now being used by galleries as well as auction houses. As a result of this shift, the art market is becoming more attractive for new collectors who are interested in art-related education rather than just pure investors. As regards the overall data on public and online auc - tion sales compared to 2024, total sales volume fell by approximately 6%, from an even CZK3 billion to CZK2.82 billion. On the other hand, the supply grew year-over-year by approximately 30,000 items where - as the sales success rate fell to 64%, down by roughly five percentage points compared to 2024 (source: Livebid.cz). The results seem to be confirmation of two major trends: the market is still expanding and the shift to online market continues. Key players The key players in the Czech art market are auction houses, private and public museums and galleries (eg, the National Gallery in Prague or Rudolfinum gallery), collectors, art dealers and the artists themselves. It is still common that the collector purchases the artwork from the artist directly from the studio. The art market in the Czech Republic is still develop - ing – it was practically non-existent until the 1990s. Since then, the market has been developing naturally,
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