Art goes on to a hire plain

Paintings can be hired for £10 a month

An Edinburgh gallery is launching a scheme which allows people to rent works of art for their homes.

The Amsterdam Gallery said members of the public can hire artworks for £10 a month.

The gallery's director said he hopes the initiative will encourage people to rethink their attitudes to art in general and embrace the hire option over buying originals or prints.

Paul Frank: "People can exchange the work"

Paul Frank said it is the first time any gallery in Britain has rented exhibits to the public.

The practice has been common in the Netherlands and Germany where people can take home paintings and sculptures.

Other commercial galleries in Scotland said they did not feel threatened by the project and believe that people will still pay to see their exhibits.

The Amsterdam Gallery outlined details of the initiative on Friday.

Mr Frank said: "People come in, pick a piece, go home and hang it on the wall and if they're fed up with it they bring it back and change it for another piece."

The scheme is the second initiative in the space of a month designed to stimulate greater public interest in Scotland's public art collections.

In December hundreds of works of art normally kept behind closed doors went on display in Glasgow.

A scheme introduced by the UK Government gave owners inheritance tax exemption on the grounds that the work is made accessible to the public.

More than 200 works were put on display at Glasgow's Burrell Collection with the consent of their owners.