Blog
The two-thirds rule, hanging height, spacing between works. Concrete measurements for above a sofa, a bed, a chest of drawers, and an empty wall.
What makes up the value of an original: size, hours of work, the artist's name, medium. Why galleries cost more and what studio prices look like.
What information a certificate holds, who issues it, how it differs from an expert opinion, and what to do if the document is lost.
How to choose original painting as a gift, which size and subject suit which occasion, and why a canvas works better than something bought in a shop.
Light, humidity, temperature, dust. Where to hang it, what to avoid, and what must never be done under any circumstances.
Ground, underpainting, layers of paint, varnish. What happens inside an oil painting and why the technique lasts for centuries.
How Bulgakov's novel became the central subject for two decades, why Woland is recognised by his mismatched eyes, and how ninety works reached the Polish edition.
What to check before acquiring an original, how the certificate of authenticity works, and how buying from the studio differs from a gallery or auction.
How to shoot an oil painting without reflections or distortion: light, angle, the reverse. A practical guide for the owner.
Why a company needs originals rather than posters, how painting works on reputation, what to choose for a meeting room, and why a painting as a partner gift is remembered.
Why painting is one of the few gifts that outlives a marriage, how to choose a work for a couple, and why a joint gift from several people is often the wisest.
Which places in a home harm paintings, why the wall facing a window is a bad idea, and how to choose a wall where a work will last for decades without loss.
A year after moving to Poland, in the parliament building, in a country that was just ceasing to be something else. How it came about and what it meant.
A village in the Cherkasy region, monumental painting in Kharkiv, the move in 1990 and thirty-five years in Poland. On how geography shapes what you paint.
In 2001 a winery in Cormons commissioned a label for a wine made from grapes from around the world. About a project running since 1985, and why artists take part in it.
Tears in the canvas, cracking, darkened varnish, water damage. What a conservator can fix completely, what only partly, and when it is better to do nothing.
What a painting is made of besides paint: canvas, ground, pigments, solvents. Which of these determines longevity and what you are paying for.
Why a fresh work is not varnished at once, what varnish does to colour, when it is renewed, and why a painting without varnish is a normal state.
In 2006 one of the world's oldest medical journals illustrated a paper on hemicrania with a portrait from the Bulgakov cycle. How it happened and why that particular work.
How a gallery wrap differs from a frame, when a frame is needed and when it harms, what it costs, and how to avoid getting the choice wrong.
Why you should not choose a painting to match the sofa, how a work's palette interacts with walls and furniture, and what to do when interior and painting do not get along.