Letters to the Editor
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Lend it out.
If you don't want it in your home (not all of it, anyway), and don't want to store it, then find some place that will want it and lend it on a long-term basis. A nursing home, hospital, library, or municipal building might want it.
This will keep the art in your ownership to be given to family down the road. You will also make connections to others that might be psychologically rewarding to you down the road.
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They're her paintings, now; and a privilege of ownership is sharing.
The writer mentioned in her letter that she had half siblings; and that her mother had left her paintings to her alone. Perhaps she did this because she though this daughter would appreciate them more, or had a more artistic temperment, or was simply her favorite.
Either way, with the inheritance, the art became hers alone, to do with as she wants. Unless there was an estrangement between her mother and her siblings, I can imagine they miss their mother too... So, it occurs to me then, that this opens up a possibility of a generous solution.
Offer some of the paintings as gifts to her siblings. Perhaps divide the number evenly amongst them and make a party, a family event of getting together and reminiscing about dear old mom, laughing and crying and reinforcing those bonds of family in the presence of her daughter. Hearing those tales, and learning to appreciate the art will give life to her grandmother in her memories and inform her of her family.
In the end, I suspect her siblings would treasure some of her Mother's artwork, as mementos; and a number of paintings spread across three or for, or more households would no longer have the mass to be an imposing aesthetic, but rather an accent.
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It isn't just art
My grandmother recently died and left a pile of white elephants behind. Nobody can possibly keep all of it, nor is there any reason why anyone should.
I have a few things, enough to sustain my connection to that part of the family but not enough to disrupt my own life, which is admittedly short on storage and floor space. I hope that whoever ends up with the family doesn't want uses it and enjoys it, even if they have no idea who my grandmother was.
LW, don't feel bad about letting some of those paintings go. Keep what pleases you. Keeping more than that seems to be creating resentment that your relationship with your mother doesn't deserve.
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conservation
Gaythiest is completely right. No sales history means no established value. You don't need an appraiser to tell you that. I have one thing to add, though. If you decide to keep some and rotate them, something I do in my house because I don't have even close to enough space to hang all of the paintings in my collection, you must talk to someone who can tell you how to pack them to store. It's not difficult, really. In most cases bubble wrap and cardboard will do along with making sure nothing is pressing into the stretched canvas. (I'm assuming they're on canvas, but if on panel they are more durable) Storage depends somewhat on painting media used. Things like damar varnish, or some resinous media are prone to cracking if very thickly applied. Depending on the age of the paintings some things can soften a little under certain conditions. Someone who works at a local university, perhaps a painting professor even, might be able to advise you.
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My mom left all her artwork to me, but it's not really my aesthetic. Would I be a terrible daughter if I took them down?
No.
You would NOT be honest to yourself if you kept them up. You are here to live your life, not your mom's. She lived her's. Now you live your's. There is NO reason to hang pics you don't like (unless comprimising with a spouse, but that's not your issue).
Be true to yourself.
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Aesthetically Agnostic
Dear LW,
Art was clearly important to your mother. The impression I have is that your mother's artistic education was acheived through scrimping, saving, and hardship. Perhaps that is part of why these paintings are so emotionally lined for you. Your mother was someone who put great effort into her art. She had faith in the importance and meaning of her work.
You didn't share other elements of your mother's personality. Still - I find it difficult to conceive of someone who felt so strongly about art who wouldn't understand that someone else's tastes wouldn't be her own. If your mother worked as hard as she did to have the beauty of art, and the art of her choosing, in fact, her creation, in her home . . . wouldn't she want the same for her daughter? Wouldn't your mother want you to find or create the space and the beauty you desire? Could perhaps what you learned from your mother about beauty be more important and lasting than the physical objects she handed down?
Best of luck,
ian
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Make a coffe-table book
If you decide to make a digital photo record of your mother's works, you may want to look into making your catalog into a coffee-table book. Many websites that print your digital photographs can do this and its not all that expensive ($20+). Copies of the book might even make a good gift to extended family members.
Even if you decide you can't part with the paintings, having the book out on your coffee-table might help you feel more comfortable about storing most or all of the paintings.
Given that you don't have a great deal of space, you definitely shouldn't feel obliged to display the whole collection in perpetuity.
I'd love to hear what you decide to do with them!
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A Cary classic
The whining! The self-absorption! The twelve-paragraph letter about a petty, boring non-problem of absolutely zero relevance to 99.9% of the population! The hand-wringing, predictable response! Lather, rinse, repeat. What a bore.
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Dear benw-sf
Why on earth did you bother to post a response if you were so utterly disinterested in the issue? Why did you read the article at all, or bother to count its paragraphs (twelve, evidently)? If yours had been the only letter posted about this article, then you'd have a point - clearly the article WOULD have been a waste of typing and Salon-space, and of no interest to anybody. But many of us responded with real interest in the 'problem' - and granted, nobody argues that this is REALLY a 'problem.' But it caught the interest of many of us - there are quite a few pages of response-letters by now - and that's the only test Cary's letter-writer needed to pass.