ABSTRACT
As the number of painters in Amsterdam increased and competition intensified after 1630, a single spatial cluster could no longer accommodate artists’ diverse career aspirations. This chapter’s socio-spatial analysis suggests that painters strategically coordinated their behaviours by selecting various locations and cultivating relationships aligned with their specific career goals and market segments. This collective behaviour reinforced the tripartite structure of the art market and brought about several distinctive playbooks, some of which actively promoted artistic innovation as a strategy to gain a market edge. Consequently, painters’ coordinated actions became a dynamic process driving up artistic creativity and innovation.
