Notes on finding, buying and living with art, from the gallery.
Special edition · November 2026This guide belongs to the November special edition: certificates, provenance, resale and care.See the edition
Caring for a work, and for its papers
A work asks for little: steady air, kind light, gentle hands. Its papers ask for even less: one place, one copy elsewhere. A Sunday-morning checklist for both.
ByErick González
Most damage to art is not drama; it is habit. A radiator under a painting, a sunny wall, a frame hung on a single nail, a certificate in a kitchen drawer. Change a few habits and a work and its story will outlive all of us.
The work
Light. Daylight fades colours and paper. Choose a wall that does not take direct sun, or a glass that filters it.
Air. Paintings and paper prefer a steady room, away from radiators, air vents, kitchens and bathrooms. It is the swings that hurt, more than the numbers.
Hands. Carry a painting by its frame or stretcher, with two hands, never by the top bar. Touch a surface as little as possible.
Walls. Two hooks rated for the weight are better than one. A framer will tell you which.
Cleaning. A soft, dry brush for dust, and nothing else. Anything more is a conservator’s job.
The papers
One place. The certificate, the invoice, letters and photographs of each work in one folder, not a drawer.
One copy elsewhere. Scans in a safe place that is not your house.
One look a year. Photograph each work, front and back, on the same day every year. It is the simplest condition record there is.
When papers are digital
A certificate that lives in a record, with a pass in your phone, cannot be lost in a move: the pass is only its key ring, and it can be added again. Our certificates work this way. See how.
If you would like company
This is what we do every day from Mexico City: help people find, buy and live with original contemporary art, with its papers in order. Book a free 30-minute call, or look at how our certificates work.
This content is for information and education only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or tax advice.
Keep reading
- Living with a work on paper
Drawings, prints and photographs are the gentlest way into collecting and the most sensitive to a careless wall. Light, glass, the mount and the frame, in plain words.
- Five minutes in front of a painting
Most people give a work eight seconds. Here is what happens when you give it five minutes: what to look at first, what to look at next, and why it matters before you buy.