Apartment gallery: launching your activity from home

01A proven model

The apartment gallery is not a recent invention. In Paris, many galleries began in domestic spaces before migrating to commercial premises. Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin started in its founder's apartment in 1990, with a first exhibition of Damien Hirst. What was then a choice dictated by limited means has become a legend in the French art world. Thirty years later, Perrotin has spaces in Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai.

More recently, the apartment gallery model has become fashionable again, driven by a new generation of gallerists who claim intimacy and proximity to the works as curatorial qualities in their own right. In Brussels, Berlin and Athens, galleries operate from apartments and attract collectors who appreciate the experience of visiting in a domestic setting, far from the sometimes intimidating atmosphere of large white spaces. The visitor discovers works in a context close to the one in which they will live with them, which makes it easier to project and, ultimately, to decide to buy.

Galerie Balice Hertling in Paris long operated in an atypical space closer to an apartment than to a traditional gallery. The curatorial project gained in intimacy what it lost in exhibition surface. Informed collectors know these addresses and frequent them precisely because they offer a different experience from the conventional gallery visit.

02Legal aspects to master

Transforming your apartment into a gallery raises legal questions that must be addressed before you receive your first visitor. The first question concerns your lease. If you are a tenant, your residential lease generally prohibits commercial activity on the premises. You must obtain your landlord's written agreement and, in some cases, that of the co-ownership. Modifying the lease to authorise mixed use (residential and commercial) is possible but may lead to a rent increase and a change of tax status for the owner, which can make them reluctant.

If you own your apartment, the co-ownership regulations may nevertheless prohibit commercial activities. Check this document carefully before launching. Some regulations authorise liberal professions but exclude commercial activities. Others are more flexible and authorise any activity provided it does not generate nuisances such as noise, frequent passage through common areas or cumbersome deliveries.

From an administrative perspective, conducting a commercial activity in residential premises is governed by Article L. 631-7 of the French Construction and Housing Code. In municipalities with more than 200,000 inhabitants and in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, a change of use is required and subject to town hall authorisation. In smaller municipalities, formalities are generally more relaxed. Check with your municipality's planning department for the procedures applicable to your situation.

Insurance must be addressed from the outset. Your standard home insurance does not cover professional activity or the artworks you hold on behalf of artists. You will need a professional extension or a specific policy covering professional liability and consigned works.

03Setting up the space for exhibitions

An apartment is not a white cube, and that is a good thing. The aim is not to reproduce the aesthetic of a conventional gallery at home, but to create a setting in which works are shown to advantage and visitors are received in good conditions. The charm of the apartment gallery lies precisely in the fact that works are presented in a living space, which allows collectors to project into their own interiors.

Walls are your first tool. Repaint them in white or a neutral colour, standardise the picture rails and invest in quality lighting. Hanging rails allow you to suspend works without drilling new holes for each exhibition, which is particularly important if you rent. Lighting is crucial: adjustable spotlights on a track, preferably LED with a colour rendering index (CRI) above 90, enhance works and give your space an immediate professional character. A few hundred euros for a proper lighting system is an investment that radically transforms the perception of your space. The difference between an apartment where paintings happen to hang and a gallery in an apartment largely comes down to the quality of lighting.

If your apartment is small, focus on one or two dedicated spaces rather than scattering works throughout every room. A well-lit, well-hung living room of 20 square metres can accommodate an exhibition of six to ten medium-format works. The bedroom and kitchen remain your private space: this separation is important both for your quality of life and for your gallery's professional image. A visitor who crosses your kitchen to reach the exhibition space will struggle to take you seriously.

04Receiving visitors: by appointment

The apartment gallery works by appointment, and this is in fact a considerable advantage. The open-door model of street-facing galleries involves fixed costs (permanent presence, lighting, heating, insurance for a space receiving the public) that are not justified at the start. Appointments allow you to prepare the visit, know your visitor's profile in advance, adapt your discourse and create a personalised experience that large galleries cannot offer.

In practice, you offer visiting slots by email or telephone. You can organise private openings by invitation, limited to twenty or thirty people, which creates a sense of exclusivity that collectors appreciate. The intimacy of an apartment opening fosters in-depth conversations with artists and among collectors, whereas large Parisian gallery openings are often social events where one struggles to look at the works. Some apartment galleries hold monthly or bimonthly open days, with a fixed slot (for example Saturday afternoon) that regulars come to know and that creates a regular rendezvous.

Security is a point not to overlook. You are receiving strangers in your home, in a space containing valuable works and your personal belongings. A peephole, a video intercom and the prudence not to receive visitors whose name and contact you do not know at minimum are reasonable precautions. Some apartment gallerists systematically require a recommendation or prior email contact before granting an appointment to a new visitor.

05Communicating the apartment gallery

Not having a street presence requires more proactive communication than a conventional gallery. You do not have window-shopping traffic to attract the curious. Every visitor is the result of a deliberate communication effort, which means every visit has greater value.

Your website is your shopfront. It must present your artists, works and programme with the same care as a conventional gallery site. Do not skimp on the quality of photographs: mediocre images of good works repel online collectors. Social media, particularly Instagram, are your main visibility tool. Regularly publish views of your hangings, portraits of your artists in your space, previews of new works. The intimate atmosphere of your apartment gallery is an asset on social media: it humanises your approach and distinguishes it from the more institutional posts of large galleries.

Word of mouth is your best ally. Every satisfied visitor is a potential ambassador. Take care with hospitality, offer a coffee, take time to talk. The visiting experience in an apartment gallery is by nature more personal and more memorable than in a large impersonal space, and visitors talk about it around them.

06Limits of the model and the transition

The apartment gallery has obvious limits. You cannot exhibit large sculptures, your hanging walls are limited, receiving several visitors simultaneously is difficult, and some institutional collectors hesitate to buy from a gallery without commercial premises. Fair participation is possible but may be more challenging if you have no commercial address for your application, although some emerging fairs are open to nomadic galleries.

These limits are not disqualifying for a start. Many gallerists spend two to three years in an apartment before taking commercial premises, once their collector network and turnover can absorb a rent. The transition should be planned: do not sign a commercial lease too early, under image pressure, if your sales do not yet justify it. A lease signed too early is a burden that can sink your project in a few months.

The intermediate alternative is a shared space or pop-up. Some spaces offer weekly or monthly rentals, allowing you to organise an exhibition in real commercial premises without committing to a three, six or nine-year lease. Project spaces and artistic coworking spaces developing in major cities also offer interesting possibilities for testing a physical gallery model before committing.

07Artedusa as a permanent shopfront

Whether you operate from an apartment or commercial premises, your presence on Artedusa offers a permanently accessible shopfront without geographic constraint. Your artists' works are visible to collectors worldwide, and online sales complement those made during appointment visits. For an apartment gallery, this digital shopfront is particularly valuable: it compensates for the absence of a physical window and places you on equal footing with galleries that have prestigious premises.