Commissioning a custom artwork is one of the most rewarding ways to collect. Instead of choosing from existing pieces, you collaborate with an artist to create something made for you, your space, and your vision. It is also a process that benefits from clear expectations on both sides. Understanding how a commission unfolds helps it go smoothly and results in a work you will treasure for a lifetime.
It is worth saying plainly what a commission is and is not. It is not a custom order in the retail sense, where you specify a product and wait for it to arrive. It is closer to hiring an architect than buying furniture: you bring the brief, the artist brings the judgment, and the result belongs to both of you. Collectors who understand that distinction from the start almost always end up happier with the outcome.
Start with the Right Artist
The most important step comes first: choose an artist whose existing work you genuinely admire. A commission is a collaboration, not a request to imitate another style, so look for someone whose voice already resonates with you. Review their body of work and consider whether their approach suits what you have in mind, whether that is a large painting for a wall or a sculpture for a particular room.
When you reach out, share your interest openly and ask whether the artist accepts commissions. Not every artist does, and those who do often have a preferred way of working. Beginning with mutual enthusiasm sets the tone for the whole process.
A useful test is whether the artist works in series. Serial practice tells you an artist has a sustained line of inquiry rather than a set of one-off effects, and it gives you a much better sense of what a new work will look like. Karlos Ibarra is a clear example: across the Sinergy and In Sync paintings, the Mexican painter returns to the same territory — the human figure as a vessel for feeling, and the balance and intimacy in the space between people. Sinergy VII, acrylic on canvas at 30 × 20 cm, concentrates that concern into a small format where proportion and spacing do the work. If you responded to that painting, you can reasonably predict what a commissioned work in the same vein would feel like.
Medium matters just as much as subject. A ceramic sculptor and an oil painter run entirely different processes, with different timelines, different tolerances for revision, and different failure modes. Johanna El Zelah hand-models low-temperature ceramic finished with engobes and enamels — work like Positivamente Tóxica #4, at 20 × 16 × 10 cm, where the surface and gesture are entirely the artist's hand. Clay is unforgiving once fired; oil on canvas can be reworked for weeks. Knowing which you are commissioning changes how you should behave as a client.
Agree on the Details
Once an artist agrees, discuss the essentials together. Talk through the size, medium, palette, and general direction, as well as where the piece will live. Good artists will want to understand your space and intention rather than a rigid set of instructions, since the best commissions leave room for their creativity.
Clarify the timeline, the total cost, and the payment structure, which commonly involves a deposit at the start and the balance on completion. Confirm what happens regarding revisions and expectations, and put the key terms in writing. A shared understanding at this stage prevents misunderstandings later.
Be specific about the constraints that are genuinely fixed and relaxed about everything else. Wall dimensions, ceiling height, the direction and quality of light, whether the work will hang above a fireplace or a console, whether it needs to survive a humid climate — these are real limits and an artist wants to know them. Preferences about mood, colour temperature, or degree of abstraction are worth voicing once, then leaving alone. The collectors who get the best commissions tend to give a rich description of the situation and a thin description of the solution.
Scale deserves its own conversation, because it is the decision people most often get wrong. A painting that reads well in a studio can feel cramped on a long wall, and a work sized to fill a room can dominate a space you actually wanted to feel calm. Ask the artist to name real dimensions early, then tape those dimensions onto your wall and live with the outline for a few days before confirming. It costs nothing and it prevents the single most expensive kind of regret.
What a Commission Typically Involves Financially
Commissions are usually priced from the artist's existing rate for comparable work, adjusted for size, medium, and complexity. It is normal for a commission to sit somewhat above the price of an available piece of similar dimensions, since the artist is carrying scheduling risk and cannot show the work to anyone else while it is in progress. Ask how the number was arrived at; a professional artist or gallery will explain it without hesitation.
The deposit protects both sides. It commits you to the project and it lets the artist buy materials and reserve studio time. Understand before you pay whether it is refundable, partially refundable, or applied as a credit toward another work if the commission does not proceed. Also confirm who bears the cost of framing, crating, shipping, and any customs duties, which on cross-border work can be a meaningful line item rather than a rounding error.
Trust the Creative Process
After the details are set, give the artist space to work. Many artists share progress at agreed milestones, such as an initial sketch or a photograph partway through, so you can offer input at natural points. Resist the urge to manage every brushstroke. You chose this artist for their vision, and the finest results come when they are free to bring it to life.
Be honest and constructive in any feedback, and remember that a commission is a dialogue. Patience matters too, since original work takes time and cannot be rushed without cost to the quality.
There is a practical reason for restraint beyond politeness. A painting in progress often looks worse before it looks better — underpainting, blocked-in shapes, and unresolved passages can read as mistakes to an eye that has not seen the finished version. Intervening at that stage tends to flatten a work into something safer than either party wanted. If a milestone image worries you, describe what you are feeling rather than prescribing a fix, and let the artist decide what to do about it.
Timelines are similarly worth holding loosely. Oil paintings need drying time between layers; ceramic work depends on kiln schedules and can be lost in firing; large canvases require stretching, priming, and curing before anything is shipped. Three to six months is an unremarkable window for a substantial original. If a date genuinely matters — a move, an anniversary, an installation — say so at the outset rather than midway through.
Receiving and Living with the Work
When the piece is finished, you will typically approve it before final payment and arrange delivery. Ask for a certificate of authenticity and any care instructions, and confirm how the work will be packed and shipped. Once it arrives, hang or place it thoughtfully so it can be seen at its best.
Documentation is worth insisting on. A certificate of authenticity, high-resolution photographs of the finished work, and a written record of the commission — date, materials, dimensions, and the terms you agreed — together form the beginning of the work's provenance. That paperwork costs nothing at the moment of delivery and becomes difficult to reconstruct years later, whether you are insuring the piece, lending it, or passing it on.
Give the work time before you judge it. First reactions to a commission are coloured by expectation, and a piece that surprises you on day one is frequently the one you value most in year five. Live with it through different light and different moods before deciding whether it landed. That is also the argument for commissioning an artist with a real body of work behind them — a painting like JoCa's Self Assemble 1, oil on canvas at 105 × 105 cm, sits inside an ongoing enquiry into identity as a process rather than a fixed state, and a commissioned work from that same practice arrives with that context already attached.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to commission a custom painting?
There is no standard rate. Pricing generally starts from the artist's existing prices for comparable finished works and is adjusted for size, medium, and complexity, and commissions often carry a modest premium over an available piece of the same dimensions. Always ask for the total in writing, including framing, packing, shipping, and any customs charges, before paying a deposit.
How long does an art commission take?
Three to six months is common for a substantial original, though it varies widely by medium and by how busy the artist is. Oil paintings need drying time between layers, and ceramic work depends on kiln schedules and can be lost in firing. Agree on a target window at the start, and flag any hard deadline before work begins rather than partway through.
Can I ask for changes to a commissioned artwork?
Usually yes, within limits agreed in advance. Most artists build in one or two review points — a preliminary sketch, then a progress image — and it is reasonable to give feedback at those moments. Open-ended revision is not standard practice, so settle the number and scope of revisions before the deposit is paid.
Is a commissioned artwork a good investment?
Treat a commission as something you want to live with rather than as a financial instrument. Commissioned works can be harder to resell than pieces from a recognised series, precisely because they were made for one person's situation. Buy on conviction, keep the certificate of authenticity and full documentation, and let any change in value be a secondary outcome. This is not financial advice.
Do all artists accept commissions?
No. Some artists work exclusively on their own projects and decline commissions entirely, while others take on a limited number each year. Asking early — through the gallery or directly — saves everyone time, and a gallery can often tell you who is open to it and who is not.
A commissioned artwork carries a story that no other piece can: it was made for you. If you would like to explore commissioning, meet our artists, browse the original paintings and the sculptures to find a voice that matches your vision, and get in touch through any work that speaks to you — we will tell you whether that artist is currently taking commissions and what the process would look like.