Kuvasto, founded in 1987, is a copyright society for artists working in the field of visual arts.

We represent more than 3,400 Finnish visual artists and, through agreements with our international affiliates, around 100,000 artists from other countries. Any artist who has created a singular and unique work of visual art can become Kuvasto’s client.

The objective of Kuvasto is to look after the rights of visual artists under copyright legislation and promote the conditions for using visual art. Ten member organizations belong to Kuvasto.

If you are an artist or a copyright owner you can become our client by filling a client form in the e-services section of our website (n.b. The e-form is only available in Finnish).

Copyright Remunerations Managed by Kuvasto

We assign permissions for the use of the works of our artist clients and collect exhibition fees for the display of works owned by the artists. Based on a decision by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, Kuvasto also manages the benefits of artists, estates and heirs from their resale rights in visual arts.

The operating costs of Kuvasto are covered from the copyright revenues accumulated during an accounting period and the remunerations are further accounted to the artists and other copyright owners as personal payments after the administration costs have been deducted from them. We remit the payments to the copyright owners in the spring following the year of collection.

You may apply for permission to use image, restricted to use in Finland, in the e-services section of our website (n.b. The e-form is only available in Finnish).

The Resale Right in Finland

Kuvasto has been appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture to administer the resale right remuneration for art sales in Finland since May 1st, 1995. Kuvasto collects the resale right remuneration for the sales of all Finnish and foreign artists who are still protected by copyright. The copyright protection term is the life of artist and 70 years from the end of the artist’s year of death.

The resale remuneration is collected for sales over 255 € (without tax). Kuvasto sends the resale right remunerations of foreign authors to copyright societies in their country of origin.

International Activities

Kuvasto has entered reciprocity agreements with 34 international copyright societies operating in the field of visual arts. On the basis of these agreements, Kuvasto represents foreign visual artists in Finland and, reciprocally, the affiliate organizations represent Finnish artists abroad. When works of foreign artists are used in Finland, the compensations are remitted to the relevant foreign affiliate. Similarly, when the works of Finnish artists are used abroad, the relevant affiliates remit the collected compensations to Kuvasto.

Foreign artists represented by Kuvasto can be searched in the Künstlersuche section of the VG Bild-Kunst website.

Kuvasto is also a member of the International Federation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and European Visual Artists (EVA).

VISEK

The VISEK Centre for the Promotion of Visual Art operates in conjunction with Kuvasto. It gives out grants annually for artists’ artistic work. The grants are intended for professional artists working in visual arts, and they are covered from the remuneration funds allocated to VISEK by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The names of the recipients of the grants are published at the Kuvasto website after the application period has ended.