Packing a stretched canvas for transit, done right

Packing a stretched canvas for transit, done right. Most of this only becomes urgent the first time it happens to you — which is exactly when it's hardest to think it through calmly.

What actually happens

Restoration is a last resort, not a routine step — a work that arrives with an issue is far more often a framing or transit problem solvable without touching the paint layer at all than it is genuine damage requiring conservation work.

Long-term art storage away from a home wall needs the same climate stability a hanging piece needs — a basement or garage that swings in temperature and humidity across seasons will do more damage over a year than most transit ever does.

How it's handled on Bello

Insuring a home collection is worth doing before, not after, the first piece worth insuring arrives — most standard homeowner policies cap fine-art coverage well below what a modest collection is actually worth within a couple of years of active buying.

Buying internationally used to mean navigating customs paperwork nobody explained clearly until something got stuck at a border; a marketplace that handles shipping logistics on the seller's side removes most of that uncertainty without removing the collector's ability to buy from anywhere.

A piece like Marta Vroom's "Null Field" (4.2 kg) is exactly the kind of physical work this applies to directly.