The parcel arrives and the temptation is to get it on the wall within the hour. Resist it for one afternoon. The first hour with a newly delivered original is the moment when damage is found or missed, when documentation is created or lost forever, and when a work either settles into your home properly or starts its life under quiet stress. None of it takes long, and none of it is difficult.
Open It Somewhere You Can Actually Work
Clear a table or a stretch of floor and lay down a blanket or the flattened outer carton before you cut anything. Unpacking a painting upright against a wall is how corners get knocked and stretcher bars get leaned on. Flat and padded is the whole trick.
Cut packaging away from the work rather than towards it, and go slower than feels necessary near the edges. Most delivery damage to original work happens during unpacking, not in transit, and it is caused by a blade.
Keep everything you remove until you are certain the piece is sound. The crate, the foam, the corner protectors and the outer carton are all evidence if something is wrong, and if you need to move the work again in the next few years you will not find better packing than the packing it came in.
What Should You Check Before You Sign?
If the courier is waiting, at minimum photograph the outside of the parcel before you open it, and note any crushed corner or puncture on the delivery paperwork before you sign. A signature that says "received in good condition" is hard to walk back later.
Then look at the work itself in raking light: stand so a lamp or window rakes across the surface at a shallow angle rather than hitting it head on. Raking light shows dents, scuffs, lifting paint and pressure marks that vanish under flat illumination. Check the corners, the edges, the stretcher on the reverse, and the glazing if the piece is framed.
Photograph as you go, not afterwards. A claim is far easier to make with images taken next to the open crate than with a description written a week later, and it costs you thirty seconds.
Let the Work Acclimatise Before You Hang It
A crate that has spent two days in a van, a warehouse and an aircraft hold has been through a wider range of temperature and humidity than your living room will ever show it. Canvas, panel, paper and wood all respond to that, and they respond at different speeds.
Stand the piece somewhere safe and out of direct sun for at least a day, ideally two, before you hang it. This matters more if the work has crossed a climate boundary, and it matters most for works on paper and anything on a wooden panel. It costs you nothing but patience, and it is the single easiest thing you can do for a work's long life.
Photograph Everything, Once
Before the piece goes on the wall, take proper images: the front square-on in even daylight, the back, the signature, and any gallery or edition label. Do it once, do it well, and you will never have to stage it again.
These images are what an insurer, a framer, a shipper or a future buyer will ask for, and they are also how you will remember the work's condition on the day it arrived. Store them with the certificate of authenticity rather than loose in a camera roll.
Keep the Paperwork With the Work
The certificate, the invoice, and the edition details if the piece is one of a numbered run are part of what you own, not administrative leftovers. Provenance is the chain of custody that proves a work is what it says it is, and that chain is only as strong as the documents you kept.
Editions make this especially concrete. A limited-edition print such as Age of Surveillance by Daniel Stara is defined by its edition details, and the paperwork is the only thing that carries them once the packaging is gone. The same is true of unique works: Mázatl by Roti Martínez is one of one, and its certificate is what says so.
Then Take Your Time Deciding Where It Lives
You do not have to decide the wall on day one. Lean the work in two or three rooms over a couple of days and watch it in morning and evening light before you commit to a hook. Our note on choosing art for rooms built around wood and stone is a useful lens if your home leans towards natural materials.
The work is not going anywhere, and a piece hung in the right place on the fourth day beats a piece hung in the wrong place on the first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I keep the packaging after my artwork arrives?
Yes, at least until you are certain the work is undamaged, and ideally for the long term. The crate and internal packing are evidence if you need to raise a claim, and they are the best-fitting protection you will ever have if the piece has to move again.
How do I check a painting for damage?
Look at it in raking light — light hitting the surface at a shallow angle rather than straight on — which reveals dents, scuffs and lifting paint that flat light hides. Check the corners, the edges and the reverse as well as the image, and photograph anything you find immediately.
How long should I wait before hanging a new artwork?
At least a day, ideally two, so the work can settle to the temperature and humidity of the room. This matters most for works on paper, wooden panels, and anything that has crossed a climate boundary in transit.
What paperwork should come with an original artwork?
A certificate of authenticity, your invoice, and edition details if the piece is part of a numbered run. Keep them together with your own photographs of the work; that bundle is the provenance record, and it belongs with the piece rather than in a drawer.
Handled with a little care on day one, an original will outlast every other object you bought that year. If you are still choosing, browse the original paintings, look through the sculptures, or meet our artists — and ask us anything about how a specific work ships and arrives before you commit to it.