Commissioning a work: start with the wall, not the picture

Commissioning a work is the closest a collector comes to being part of how art is made. It goes well when you start with the wall and not with the picture.

Choose the artist for what they already do

A commission extends an artist's practice; it does not change it. If you want a landscape, ask an artist who paints landscapes. Look at the artists and at their last few years of work, and imagine one more piece of that family in your space.

Describe the place

Tell the artist about the wall, the light, the room and how you live in it. Photographs and a floor plan help more than any reference image. Then let the artist propose.

Put the simple things in writing

What will be made, roughly: size and medium.

The price and what it includes.

The dates: a sketch first, then the work.

The deposit. Half at the start is common.

What happens if either side changes its mind.

One look in the middle

Agree on one moment to see the work in progress, and say what you think then. After that, let the artist finish. A work with weekly feedback ends up belonging to nobody.

When it arrives

A commissioned work is delivered like any other from our gallery: insured, with its invoice and its certificate. And with a story no other work in your home will have.

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. Book a free 30-minute call, or simply look at the works available now.

Image: our exhibition Art+Tech Collection ’25 in Mexico City.