The True Value of Art (Framework 1.0—Foundational Baseline) A Framework for Intrinsic Worth and Cultural Governance

This white paper establishes a governance framework for evaluating the value of art independent of market price, institutional visibility, or speculative demand. It defines intrinsic value as an objective criterion grounded in intelligible human goods and provides an institutional basis for valuation, documentation, stewardship, and succession decision-making. Issued by the Erik Brunetti Foundation for the Arts, this document functions as a foundational baseline for cultural-governance practice. It is intended for use by museums, archives, foundations, estates, and custodial bodies responsible for the preservation and interpretation of cultural records. An introductory article to this framework is published in the Erik Brunetti Foundation for the Arts Journal (2026) and available via erikbrunettifoundation-journal.org/the-true-value-of-art This framework references the Swiss Civil Code (Arts. 60–79) as the comparative legal basis for custodial associations and derives from the CCRI Framework 1.0 (Standards for Cultural Record Integrity & Intrinsic Value Governance, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.18120773).