Private Viewing Rooms for Artists: When to Use Them and What to Include
What this helps you do
Share a private selection without sending a trail of attachments.
A private viewing room is a focused selection of artworks shared with a specific person or group. It is more controlled than a public portfolio and more polished than a folder of image attachments. Used well, it lets a collector, curator, gallery, or advisor see the right works in the right context.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- Build a private viewing room around one recipient and one purpose, rather than sharing an unfiltered archive.
- Show only the details that help that conversation, such as price and availability for a collector or installation images for a curator.
- Record who received the room, what it contained, and what they asked about so the follow-up is personal and accurate.
When a viewing room is better than your website
Your public website is for broad discovery. A private viewing room is for a specific conversation. Use one when the recipient should see a curated group, not everything you have ever made.
This is useful for collector previews, gallery submissions, studio visit follow-ups, art advisor selections, commission options, and works held back before an exhibition opens.
Keep the selection tight
A viewing room should feel edited. If you include too many works, you make the recipient do the curating for you. For a first collector preview, five to twelve works is often enough. For a gallery submission, a coherent body of ten to twenty works can work well.
The selection should have a reason. It might be a series, a size range, a price range, a medium, or a group that fits a particular room. Explain the reason briefly in the room note or email.
Decide which details to show
A collector usually needs title, year, medium, dimensions, price, availability, and a way to ask questions. A curator may care more about year, materials, exhibition history, and installation images. A gallery may want price and edition details but not a public buy button.
Do not assume every audience needs the same fields. A private room gives you the chance to reveal only what helps the conversation.
Use passwords and expiry dates deliberately
Passwords are useful when sharing unpublished work, price-sensitive selections, or rooms made for one collector. Expiry dates are useful when availability may change or when the selection is tied to a fair, studio visit, or exhibition preview.
An expiring room also gives you a natural follow-up moment. You can write, I am leaving this selection open through Friday in case you want to revisit it.
Follow up with context
The viewing room is only part of the sales workflow. Keep a note of who received it, when it was sent, what works were included, which pieces they asked about, and what happened next.
Those notes become especially valuable months later when a collector returns and says they loved the blue work from the selection you sent in spring. You should not have to reconstruct that from your inbox.
A simple viewing room checklist
- Choose a clear audience and purpose.
- Select only works that serve that purpose.
- Check images, dimensions, prices, and availability.
- Add a short introduction or context note.
- Set password and expiry settings if needed.
- Send the room with a brief, human email.
- Record the follow-up in your contact or sales notes.
Worked example
A collector preview
For a collector who asked about small blue works, share eight available pieces with title, year, medium, dimensions, price, and a short room note. Set a clear review window if availability is changing, then note the works discussed after the conversation.
Share focused selections without sending messy folders
Artwork Codex lets you build password-protected viewing rooms from existing artwork records, with expiry dates and selected details for each audience.
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Free plan available. Private sharing is included in paid workflows.
