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The Art Market and Diffusion of Artistic Heritage

Code: 100555 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Art History OT 3
Art History OT 4

Contact

Name:
Jaime Vidal Oliveras
Email:
jaime.vidal@uab.cat

Teachers

Jaime Vidal Oliveras

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No prerequisites are required


Objectives and Contextualisation

Introduction to the ecosystem of the art market: galleries and collecting, cultural institutions and policies, the cultural press and art criticism. Special attention to the case of Barcelona

Competences

    Art History
  • Demonstrating they have basic knowledge of museology and museography, as well as the current problems about conservation and restoration of artistic heritage.
  • Designing, producing and spreading management projects of artistic heritage.
  • Organising educational projects in various levels of the learning of Art History, applying the instrumental knowledge related to the discipline.
  • Organising the curator of exhibitions of permanent and temporal nature.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing basic concepts of museology and museography.
  2. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  3. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  4. Analysing the current or past debates about management, conservation, restoration and documentation systems of the artistic heritage.
  5. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  6. Applying the arrangements and international, state and autonomic principles related to the management of the artistic heritage.
  7. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  8. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  9. Communicating orally an artistic imagery using the appropriate terminology.
  10. Contrasting the various legal frameworks of the artistic heritage.
  11. Contrasting the various legal frameworks that can be applied to a practical case of management, documentation and conservation of the artistic heritage.
  12. Coordinating working teams, developing conflict resolution and decision making abilities.
  13. Designing a museographic programme.
  14. Designing and applying education programmes in the different fields of Art History.
  15. Designing, producing, disseminating and commercializing a cultural product.
  16. Designing programmes of temporal and permanent expositions, including the programming of activities of educational nature for school and family audiences.
  17. Drawing up reports of artistic specialisation.
  18. Drawing up restoration reports of the architectonic and artistic heritage.
  19. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  20. Explaining the specific notions of the History of Art.
  21. Planning and applying museographic projects and programmes, using the acquired knowledge about museology.
  22. Producing a project of management and conservation of the artistic imagery.
  23. Producing catalogue sheets and inventory of the architectonic or artistic heritage.
  24. Using the acquired knowledge in the elaboration of files, reports and rulings related to the conservation, documentation, and dissemination of the artistic heritage (cataloguing, inventory, restoration reports, artistic specialisation.

Content

Ecosystem of the arts: institution, market and media.
    THE ART GALLERY: The crisis of the Academy and the origins of the art market: the Salons, the galleries and the birth of modern art. The great French dealers.
    The ART MARKET IN BARCELONA: The export of the Paris model and the birth of the galleries in Barcelona. Formation and origins of the Barcelona art market (1877-1936): Sala Parés, Santiago Segura and Josep Dalmau. Development of the contemporary art market (1939-1970): The postwar period, the art of black market and the recovery of activity in Barcelona: the Layetanas. Towards a new gallery model: Sala Gaspar and René Metras. The market boom (1970-2000). The 70s and alternative rooms. Eude, Ciento, Salvador Riera, Joan Prats. The 80s and the speculative spiral. New galleries nuclei. The last decades: a new generation of dealers.
    THE ARTISTIC INSTITUTION: Museums, art centers and cultural infrastructure. The first museums of contemporary art. From the Kunstmuseum to the Kunsthalle.
    BARCELONA ARTISTIC CENTERS: Cultural cartography of the city and historical evolution. General and artist museums. Centers of art and culture. Private foundations The impact of the policies of the Administration of promotion of contemporary art. Fairs and auctions.
    THE DIFFUSION OF ART: criticism and cultural press. The mediators: critics, curators and directors of centers.
    THE CULTURAL PRESS IN SPAIN. Analysis of the media.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Theoretical classes 37 1.48 3, 5, 2, 7, 6, 8, 9, 11, 10, 15, 23, 20, 17, 18, 24
Type: Supervised      
COLLECTIVE WRITTEN WORK ON AN ART CENTER / MUSEUM 36.25 1.45
INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN WORK ON ART FAIRS / AUCTION HOUSES / MAGAZINES 36.25 1.45 3, 5, 2, 8, 9, 15, 20, 19
TUTORIES 2.75 0.11 3, 5, 7, 6, 8, 9, 11, 15, 13, 20

The teacher will teach the general contents of the syllabus with the support of visual and textual material. The student will perform a series of practices as a complement to class work.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
EXAMINATION See percentages below 2 0.08 1, 3, 4, 5, 2, 8, 9, 15, 20, 19, 21, 24
ORAL EXHIBITIONS Percentages described below 5.75 0.23 1, 3, 4, 5, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 23, 20, 19, 21, 22, 17, 18, 24
WRITTEN PRACTICES See percentages below 30 1.2 1, 3, 4, 5, 2, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 23, 20, 19, 21, 17, 18, 24

• Analysis of fairs/art auctions Individual practice 20%
• Analysis of a museum or art center. Collective practice Written work and exhibition in class. 30%
• 50% Exam
• class participation will help to upload final grade
 
Observations:

Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items

REVIEW: at the moment of realisation of each activity evaluative, the teacher will inform the students of the procedure and date of review of the qualifications
 
RECOVERY: those students who do notpass any of the tests or do notdeliver in due time will only have to recover the part not approved or not presented
 
PLAGIARISM AND IRREGULARITIES:in the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity,thestudent will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
 
AI: This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic or content-based searches, text correction or translations, where applicable. Other specific situations may be contemplated, as deemed appropriate by the teacher. The student must clearly 1 identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; 2 specify the tools used; and 3 include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken
 
 
SINGLE EVALUATION
 
• Analysis of fairs/art auctions Individual practice 20%
• Analysis of a museum or art center. Collective practice Written work and exhibition in class. 30%
• 50% Exam

Bibliography

  • JUAN ANTONIO RAMÍREZ, Ecosistema y explosión de las artes, Anagrama, Barcelona, 1994
  • RAYMONDE MOULIN, L’artiste l’institution et le marché, Flamarion, Paris, 1992
  • RAYMONDE MOULIN, El mercado del arte. Mundialización y nuevas tecnologías, La Marca Editora, Buenos Aires 2017
  • JAUME VIDAL OLIVERAS, Galerisme a Barcelona 1877-2012. Descubrir, defensar, difondre l’art. Ajuntament de Barcelona/Art Barcelona, 2012. (There is also a Spanish / English version)
     

Software

If a specific program is needed, it will be notified in a timely manner

Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed