What to put on the back of a painting
The back of a work says who made it, what it is and how to hang it. A clean label on the back is what art fairs ask for — and what lets people find you years later.
What belongs on the back
No official rule, but a well-established convention — the one art fair regulations rely on.
Your name, as you sign
The name you are professionally known by. It is the first thing a framer, a curator or a future owner looks for on the back.
Title and year
The exact title of the work and its year of creation. Years later, this is what links the piece back to your catalogue.
Medium and dimensions
"Oil on canvas, 60 × 80 cm": the material identity card of the work, required by most art fair regulations.
The inventory number
Your internal reference. It links the work to your inventory, your consignments and your certificates, without any ambiguity.
Your contact details
Website or public page, email, phone. The work will travel without you — its contact details always lead back to you.
The "Top ↑" marker
The hanging arrow. Obvious on a landscape, essential on an abstract work — the hanging crew will thank you.
Required by art fairs. Most group exhibition regulations require a legible label on the back of every submitted work: name, title, medium — sometimes the price and orientation. Arriving with labelled backs is the first sign of an organized artist.
Your back labels, ready in a few clicks
The information comes from your inventory — nothing to retype.
Select the artworks
Title, medium, dimensions, inventory number: everything is already in your workspace, the label fills itself in.
Choose the options
Contact details, QR code, nationality and birth year, price: each label set adjusts to its use — fair, consignment, delivery.
Download and print
A4 PDF with 8, 4 or 2 labels per page (A7, A6 and A5 formats), bilingual FR/EN, Top marker included. Plain paper with cut lines always works. On adhesive sheets in the same format, print at 100% and test one sheet before the run. For storage: a mini “Inventory” format (40 per sheet), just the QR and the work's number.
Back labels are free for all artists, like exhibition labels.
Attach the label without damaging the work
The right spot depends on the support — the common rule: never on the artwork itself.
Stretched canvas
Stick the label on a stretcher bar — lower right when viewed from the back, by convention. Never directly on the canvas: adhesive can mark the painted surface on the front.
Framed work
On the back of the frame or on the backing board, perfectly flat so it doesn't interfere with hanging. If the work changes frame one day, remember to move the label.
Work on paper
Never on the sheet. The label goes on the back of the frame or the mat; for the sheet itself, a graphite pencil note in the margin of the verso is enough.
Sculpture and ceramics
Under the base when there is one, or as a tag attached with a tie. For small pieces, the label can follow the box or the presentation packaging.
The adhesive matters as much as the label. pH-neutral (acid-free), archival-quality glue or adhesive. Never household tape: it yellows, peels off over time and leaves residue that cannot be removed cleanly.
A back that answers questions
Whoever turns the work over scans and discovers its full record — without having to look for you.
Free: to your gallery
The QR code leads to the artwork's public page on MycreArt. Only works visible in the gallery can appear on your labels.
Pro: the destination of your choice
Your website, your contact card, Instagram, your email or a custom URL — with scan counts in your statistics.
What if the work is no longer visible?
The printed code doesn't break: it then leads to your public profile, or to your site's home page. If you hide your entire profile, the QR has nowhere left to go.
What artists ask
No law requires it, but most art fair and group exhibition regulations do: name, title, medium — sometimes the price — must appear on the back of every submitted work. And beyond fairs, it is the identification that follows the work all its life: sales, consignments, framing, estates.
Both are common practice. Writing directly on the back of the canvas — acrylic paint or permanent marker — is unalterable but limited in space. The printed label carries more: contact details, inventory number, QR code, and stays perfectly legible. Many artists combine the two: signature and title by hand, a label for the rest.
Not on the permanent label: prices change, the label stays, and a dated price devalues the work years later. The "price" option exists for short-lived contexts — a fair whose regulations require it — and can be turned off for the permanent label.
It keeps working: the new owner scans and finds the artwork's page and its artist. If you remove the work from the gallery, the code leads to your profile — never to a dead page. You can also deactivate the QR codes of a label set at any time.
8 per page for common formats: the compact label fits on a stretcher bar. 4 per page for more legibility, 2 per page for large formats — or when the back serves as a full identity sheet. These three sizes exist as off-the-shelf adhesive label sheets (105 × 74, 105 × 148 and 210 × 148 mm), to print at 100% after a test.
The exhibition label goes on the wall, next to the work, for the duration of a show: it is a presentation tool. The back label stays on the work all its life: it is an identification tool. Both are free on MycreArt and share the same QR code with scan tracking.
Related guides
The back label is part of well-documented work.
Exhibition labels
Wall labels with QR codes, ready to print for your exhibitions.
Printing your documents well
Paper, printer, print shop: a professional finish for every document.
Preparing an exhibition
Artwork list, labels, transport: the full preparation.
The certificate of authenticity
The verifiable document that backs every sale.
Your back labels are waiting
Select your artworks, download the PDF, stick. Free for all artists.