French Senate Bill Would Expand State Control Over Privately Owned Art

Key facts

• Senator Jacques Grosperrin introduced a bill in the French Senate in March 2026 to expand the definition of trésor national to works by French artists regardless of age.
• The bill would extend state pre-emption to private transactions beyond auction houses.
• Gustave Caillebotte's Boulevard vu d'en haut (1880) was designated a trésor national in February 2026, with export barred until August 2028.
• France blocked the sale of Rembrandt's The Standard Bearer (1636) in 2019 for €165m but failed to raise the funds, and the painting went to the Rijksmuseum in 2021.
• The UK placed an export bar on Rembrandt's Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet (1657), valued at £71m, with a deferral expiring on 26 December.
• Hans Baldung Grien's Portrait of Susanna Pfeffinger (1517) was classified a trésor national in March 2026 after being withdrawn from a sale at Drouot, despite no export attempt.
• In the Brimo de Laroussilhe case, the Paris Administrative Court sided with the state in 2017 over a sculpted fragment from Chartres Cathedral, and the Conseil d'État upheld the ruling three years later.
• The president of Cambi Casa d'Aste estimates export restrictions can cut a work's value by 70% to 80%.