Retrospective exhibitions are usually a landmark in an artist's career as they bring together work made sometimes over many decades, and provide an invaluable historical survey of that artist's development and contribution to the world of art.

That said, many artists are only acknowledged with such landmark exhibitions after their deaths, when they may not have recorded their wishes and intentions for dealing with such matters.  In the absence of clearly written instructions, those inheriting responsibility for a deceased artist's estate, the beneficiaries, can be placed in great difficulty.

In this section, we consider those issues which you as an artist ought to be aware of when deciding how you wish to leave your property, so that in addition to drawing-up a Will you can deposit a letter with the Will, instructing your beneficiaries how to handle your art works after your death.  In particular, the section highlights the issues surrounding the posthumous creation of art works.

• legal
• art after death
• protecting artwork
• exhibiting