The Intangible in Art: Brand, Name, and Image as Financial Assets for Arts Institutions

[PRE-RELEASED VERSION]

Cécile Anger

Cécile Anger is Head of Branding, Sponsorships and Partnerships at Mont Saint-Michel and previously held similar roles at the Château de Chambord and the Musée de Cluny in Paris. She is an Affiliated Researcher at Sorbonne Law School. Holding Master’s degrees in intellectual property law and art history from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, she has taught cultural heritage law since 2017. Her 2024 doctoral thesis examined the legal protection of the names and images of emblematic cultural properties.

ABSTRACTThis article examines the growing use of brand licensing and image regulation as investment-oriented financial strategies for arts institutions facing declining public funding and increasing pressure to diversify revenue sources. Beyond traditional income streams such as ticketing, sponsorship, or merchandising, museums and arts institutions are progressively mobilizing their intangible assets—brand, name, and image—as forms of investment capable of generating economic value. Drawing on examples from France, Italy, and Greece, the article analyzes both authorized licensing agreements and the contested commercial uses of cultural names and images by private actors. Combining insights from cultural economics and legal analysis, it distinguishes between large-scale international licensing projects, often reserved for globally recognized institutions, and product-based licensing strategies accessible to a wider range of museums. The study further explores how recent legal innovations seek to regulate commercial exploitation and address issues of value leakage and legitimacy. It argues that the governance of intangible cultural assets increasingly positions art not only as a cultural good, but as a structured form of institutional investment contributing to financial sustainability in the arts sector.

KEYWORDS
Art; intangible asset; brand; image; finance