How Do I Choose Art for My Space?
Updated: Aug 24
You can start choosing art with the sofa.
We wouldn’t.
An artwork doesn’t have to repeat the colours of the interior.
Things often become more interesting when the artwork and the room aren’t perfectly matched, but have something to say to each other.
Does art have to match the interior?
No.
Of course, colors, materials, architecture and furniture play a role.
After all, pictures don’t hang in a vacuum.
But an artwork doesn’t have to confirm the interior.
A quiet room can handle a loud picture.
A colorful room might work with something very reduced.
And a red picture really doesn’t need a red sofa.
The more interesting question is often not “Does it match?” but:
What happens to the room when the picture is there?
How do I choose the right size for an artwork?
For once, a little pragmatism helps.
What matters is the wall space, the viewing distance and the role the artwork
should play in the room.
A large work can define a room.A smaller one can create a focal point or find a quieter place.
If you’re unsure, there’s a simple test: mark the approximate size on the wall with paper or masking tape and take a few steps back.
You’ll usually know pretty quickly whether the size works.
In our experience, people tend to choose art that is too small rather than too large.
That’s why our Fine Art Prints are available in different formats:
from smaller 40 × 40 cm editions to large-scale works.
Should an artwork stand out or blend in?
Both are allowed.
An artwork can change a room immediately.
Or it can reveal its effect gradually.
Our series work very differently in this respect.
12 Houses works with architecture, repetition, color and visual systems.
Fruits for Coco begins with something familiar and moves so close that it almost
becomes something else.
Neon Kiss works with color, pop and familiar codes that are shifted and rearranged. Color gets louder. Images become more abstract.
What works in your own home is less a question of choosing the right category than of your own reaction to it.
If you’re still looking after five minutes, that’s probably not a bad sign.
Does art have to hang above the sofa?
Of course not.
The sofa is popular simply because there is usually a large empty wall above it.
More interesting places can be those where you don’t automatically expect an artwork: next to a door, at the end of a hallway, between two windows, above a sideboard or on a small wall you pass frequently.
Even a single smaller work can develop a surprising amount of presence there.
Not every empty wall needs a picture. And not every picture needs the largest empty wall.
How high should an artwork hang?
There is no universal height.
As a starting point, you can place the center of the image roughly at eye level. But the room itself is always the deciding factor.
An artwork above a piece of furniture has a different relationship to the space than one on an empty wall. High rooms have different proportions from small ones. And several works displayed together create another situation entirely.
So it’s worth stopping, stepping back and looking before putting the final hook into the wall.
Eye level is a good place to start. Looking is better.
A frame also changes how present an artwork feels on the wall.
We take a closer look at that question here:
How do I know if I want to live with an artwork for a long time?
That’s probably the hardest question.
The first impression matters. But it isn’t always the most interesting one.
Some pictures work immediately. Others take time.
You discover something, notice something different later, and eventually the picture simply becomes part of the room.
That’s why we wouldn’t choose an artwork based on whether it fits effortlessly
with everything else.
But on whether you want to see it again.
Perhaps the better question isn’t:
Does this picture fit my room?
But: Will I want to look at it again tomorrow?
Should I choose art online or see it in person?
Both can work.
Online, you can compare images, discover series and look at different formats.
But a screen can only convey the scale, paper, surface and physical presence
of a print to a certain extent.
With Fine Art Prints in particular, the material matters. Our editions are printed on Arches BFK Rives 310 gsm, a matte cotton paper with a clearly visible and tactile surface.
Want to know what distinguishes a Fine Art Print from a regular photo print?
Read more in What Is a Fine Art Print?
That’s why we try to show our works not only as image files, but also framed, in detail and within a room.
It gives you a better sense of how an image becomes an object.
How Do I Choose the Right Art for My Space?
Unfortunately, we don’t have a formula for that.
And that’s probably a good thing.
We can talk about size, color, frames, wall space and viewing distance.
But in the end, there is something that is difficult to measure:
You stop in front of an image.
You look again.
Maybe you don’t even know exactly why.
For us, that would be a pretty good start.
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