London’s Art Dealers Brace for Bargain Hunters Amid Brexit Chill

  • U.K. accounted for 21% of $64 billion global art sales in 2015
  • ‘Everyone I speak to is shell-shocked,’ says one dealer

London art dealer Simon Lee spent Friday morning in a state of disbelief, having woken up to the news that the majority of his countrymen voted to leave the European Union in a historic referendum on June 23.

“Everyone I speak to is shell-shocked,” said Lee, who owns a gallery in Mayfair. “There was such consensus to remain in the art community. Proves what a bubble we live in.”