Artist’s Estate

An artist’s estate is the body of property, rights, records, and responsibilities associated with an artist after death, together with the people or entities authorized to administer them.

An artist’s estate may manage unsold artworks, archives, copyright, reproduction requests, cataloguing, loans, scholarship, or relationships with galleries and foundations. Its scope depends on the artist’s arrangements and applicable law.

An artist’s estate is not the same as a collector’s estate and does not automatically authenticate every attributed work. Ask what authority the estate has, what service or opinion it actually provides, and whether it reviewed the specific object.

• Collector’s Estate
• Catalogue raisonné