I ask every new client these ten questions before I show them a single work. They are the difference between a purchase that looks right in the gallery and one that still feels right on your wall in ten years. Answer them on paper and half of the market noise falls away.

1. What does the wall actually measure, and what is around it?

Measure the wall, the ceiling height, and the distance from which you will usually see the work. A painting that fills a gallery wall can disappear in a double height living room, and a work that is perfect at two meters can overwhelm a corridor you pass at arm's length.

In a Caesarea sea view villa, the answer to this question was a 3.5 meter triptych commissioned from an Italian artist, three storks at its center, made for that wall and no other. In a Hod Hasharon villa it was a single large scale figurative digital work, chosen to define the emotional center of an open, light saturated home. Scale is decided by the room, never by the catalogue.

2. Where does the light come from, and when?

Note the windows, the direction they face, and the hours you are actually in the room. Direct sun fades works on paper and some pigments, and glass or glossy surfaces facing a window turn into mirrors at exactly the hour you want to look at them.

In a Herzliya Pituach apartment I positioned a large painting by Yigal Ozeri, an aged and textured window, near the entrance so it speaks to the sea facing windows rather than competing with them. In a Tel Aviv Bauhaus residence the central work is a hyper collage printed on glossy anti reflective acrylic: the depth of gloss without the mirror, which is the answer to this question.

3. What life is lived in this room?

Be specific. Is this where you read alone, where the children do homework, where you host thirty people on a Friday night? The work has to belong to the life of the room, not to the idea of the room.

For a Manhattan client who loves to entertain, the anchor of the apartment became a large format digital collage above the custom bar, drawing on the visual language of glamorous social gatherings and referencing Manet's "Un Bar aux Folies-Bergère". For a Ramat Gan client, the answer came out of a trip to Korea that changed them: a large format photograph by a Korean artist, two figures in ceremonial dress, at the heart of the living space. "It gives it memory." For a Tel Aviv client who loved the intimate imagery of the series Shtisel, I commissioned the artist whose paintings appear in it: a mother caressing her baby, rendered with quiet warmth.

4. Where has the work been?

Provenance is the documented history of the work: who made it, who has owned it, where it was shown, and how it reached the seller. For a living artist that is often a direct relationship and a signed certificate. For a work that has changed hands, it is a chain of invoices and exhibition records that should be complete and legible. When I commission a work directly from the artist, the chain is one link long and it starts with you.

Gaps are not always a problem, but unexplained gaps are. When I sourced large scale works from France for a private collector's estate in Caesarea, I worked through a leading gallery, negotiated the prices and aligned every choice with the collector's taste and long term investment goals. Documentation sits inside that conversation, not after it. Buying from a gallery on your own? Read how to buy from a gallery without overpaying.

5. What condition is it in, and who says so?

Ask for a condition report and read it. Ask who wrote it, when, and whether they are independent of the sale. Photographs flatter; raking light and a close look at edges, corners and the back of the work do not.

With works on paper, photographs and digital prints, condition also means the print process and the substrate. I work with expert printmakers, and both are chosen for longevity before anything is printed.

6. How will it be framed, and who decides?

Framing is not decoration. It protects the work, sets its scale on the wall, and either agrees with the architecture or argues with it. Decide before you buy, because the frame changes the finished size and the budget.

In a Caesarea garden villa, two richly textured portraits of women facing the front door got slim contemporary framing. I manage framing and installation end to end with expert framers and installers, within the agreed timeline and budget. More in framing and installing large scale art.

7. What is the real budget, including everything after the price?

Write down the number you are comfortable with, then add what follows the purchase: shipping, insurance in transit, framing, installation, and sometimes lighting. Buyers who skip this step end up with a work they love and a frame they compromised on.

Advisory fees belong in the same column. As an industry norm, advisors charge hourly, a flat project fee, or a percentage of acquisitions, typically ten to twenty percent, with retainers for ongoing collection work. I quote each project after a first conversation, based on scope. Direct relationships with artists often bring the total cost of the work itself down. The detail is in what an art advisor costs.

8. Are you buying to live with it, or to sell it?

Both are legitimate. Pretending one is the other is where people get hurt. Most art is not liquid, resale through auction or a gallery carries its own costs, and a rising name today is not a guarantee of anything.

For the Caesarea collector, long term investment value was a stated goal, so the selection and the negotiation were aligned with it from the start. When a client simply wants to wake up next to something that moves them, that is a complete reason too. The mistake is buying for the second reason and telling yourself it was the first.

9. Is your designer part of this conversation?

If you are working with an interior designer or architect, bring them in before the purchase, not after. My role is to bridge art history, the market now, and the creative vision of your architect or designer, so all three arrive at the wall as one decision.

In a newly built residence in Closter, New Jersey, I curated a collection that brings depth to the interior design, working with leading New York City galleries from the start and placing Jewish and Israeli artists alongside other contemporary voices. The result is a house where art and architecture speak the same language. I work with designers, not around them; here is how.

10. Who is advising you, and what do they gain from your choice?

Ask whether the person guiding you is paid by you, by the seller, or by both. Ask what they do when they think you are about to buy the wrong work. An advisor who sits on your side of the table can walk away from a piece, assess its market value, negotiate on your behalf, and answer the questions above honestly.

That is the role I take. Fourteen years in the art world, an M.A. in art history from Ben-Gurion University, curatorial work in museums, managing a gallery in Tel Aviv, collections for private homes across New York, New Jersey and Israel, and art concepts for hotels and cruise lines abroad, among them Waldorf Astoria Chengdu, St. Regis Amman and Holland America Line. The work is not complete until the piece is installed and you are fully satisfied.

Before you buy

Put your ten answers on a single page and keep it with you when you look at work. To talk through your answers with me, write to Stav@stavtheodor.com. Also worth reading: how my advisory process works and how to start an art collection.