Inheriting art

Most people who inherit art did not choose it. It arrives with a house, a cupboard, a list of other things to sort out. Some of it will be family pictures of no interest to anyone else. Some of it may be important. The first job is to make sure nothing is lost while you find out which is which.

1. In the first weeks, change nothing

• Leave works where they hang, unless a wall is damp or the house is being cleared.
• Do not clean, reframe, retouch or “freshen up” anything. Old varnish, dust and labels are part of the evidence.
• Do not split works between relatives yet, however obvious the division seems.
• If the house will stand empty, move works on paper and small objects to a dry, lived-in room.

2. Make a list

For each work, record:

• a photograph of the front, the back, and any signature or label;
• the size, measured without the frame;
• where it hung, and anything the family remembers about it: who bought it, from whom, when;
• every paper that goes with it: invoices, letters, certificates, exhibition catalogues, old insurance lists.

Family memory is evidence too, but it fades fastest. Write down what older relatives say now, in their words, with the date. See Reading the back of a painting for what to look for on the reverse.

3. Who owns it now

If there is a will, it decides. If there is not, the personal law of the person who died does. For Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, that is the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Other communities follow other laws; a lawyer will tell you which.

Until recently, a will made by a Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain or Parsi in Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata had to go through probate, a court’s confirmation of the will. That requirement, Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, which received assent on 20 December 2025. Probate is still available, and lawyers note it can still help when you need to show clear title later.

If several heirs share a collection, agree in writing who holds what, with photographs attached. Pictures have a way of drifting between houses.

4. Tax

India abolished estate duty in 1985, and there is no inheritance tax. Receiving the works does not, by itself, create a tax bill.

Tax can come later. The income-tax law does not treat drawings, paintings, sculptures and other works of art as personal effects, so a gain made if an inherited work is ever sold can be taxed. Keep every record of the work’s history and of what the person who died paid for it. A tax adviser will need both.

5. If it is old

Under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, coins, sculptures, paintings and other works more than 100 years old can be antiquities, as can manuscripts and documents more than 75 years old. Owning them is lawful. Owners of antiquities the government has specifically notified must register them. None may be exported without a permit.

Works by nine artists have been declared art treasures: Abanindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, Gaganendranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose, Nicholas Roerich, Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Ravi Varma and Sailoz Mookherjea. They may be owned and kept in India, but not taken out of it. See Moving art abroad.

6. Find out what you have, slowly

Once the list exists, there is no hurry. Look up the names on the signatures. Compare the works with those in museum collections and published books. Check the certificates against their issuers. Be most careful with the works the family is surest about. “Grandfather bought it from the artist” is a story to check, not a fact to repeat.