Sell art privately

Discreet sales of major works, without an auction

The most significant works of modern and contemporary art rarely change hands at auction. They move quietly, through relationships — a gallery who knows a collector looking for exactly that artist, an estate that prefers no press, a work that would be mispriced in a public sale. Selling privately means the right buyer appears first, on your terms.

What a private treaty sale actually is

A private treaty sale is a negotiation conducted away from the auction room: buyer and seller are matched directly, the price is agreed in private, and the work never carries a public history of a failed sale. There is no estimate printed, no lot viewed by the whole market, no record of the work going unsold. For owners of major works, that discretion is the point — the comparison between a private sale and an auction is set out below.

How selling works through Finarta

Finarta is a private network of 460+ vetted galleries and art professionals across 30 countries, 90 cities and 4 continents — and behind them, the collectors and private collections they serve. As a member, you state what you own without giving your name. The network matches your work against the confidential requests members and galleries are actively posting: a collector searching for your artist, your period, your scale. Interest comes back through the professionals who already know both sides.

Nothing is listed. Nothing is consigned. Your identity stays withheld until the end of the transaction. Transaction fees are 3% on the seller and 3% on the buyer, agreed in the open before anything proceeds.

Selling a collection without an auction

Whole collections behave differently from single works: the pieces are related, the seller's timeline matters, and a public dispersal can depress the value of everything remaining. Offered privately, a collection can be placed in stages, to collectors already asking for the artists involved — often several different buyers, each matched through the same confidential request.

What to have ready before you sell

Buyers at this level check three things before price is even discussed: provenance (the documented history of ownership), title (that the seller is free to sell), and condition. You do not need all of it perfect to start — a confidential request can go out first, and the paperwork assembled while interest is being confirmed. An honest record, even a partial one, measurably shortens a private sale.