How Do I Find the Right Format for an Artwork?

An artwork can be too small.

Too large, too.

The interesting thing is: this has surprisingly little to do with the size of the room.

A large artwork can work very well in a small space.And a small piece can be exactly

right on a large wall.

What matters is not the size of the wall. But the effect in the room.

How far away are you from the artwork?

Do you see it when you enter the room or only as you walk past?

Does it hang on its own or together with other works?

And should it define the room – or simply find its place within it?

Which Format Works for My Space?

Distance is a good place to start.

Large formats do not necessarily need large rooms. But they change a space more noticeably. Up close, details, structures and surfaces become more important.

From a distance, the image becomes readable as a whole.

Smaller formats work differently. They draw you closer and leave more space around them.

Large does not automatically mean dominant.

Small does not automatically mean inconspicuous.

Furniture, architecture and the amount of free wall space also play a role.

An artwork above a sideboard or desk is always in a relationship with its surroundings.

It does not have to hang exactly in the centre.

And there is no formula saying that an artwork has to be exactly two-thirds

the width of a sofa.

A room is not a maths problem.

Different series. Different formats. One wall.

Is a Larger or Smaller Artwork Better?

If two formats are possible, another question can help:

Should the artwork become part of the room,

or should the room become part of the artwork?

A larger format has more presence and can change the way a room is perceived.

A smaller one leaves more space around it.

The wall becomes a stronger part of the composition.

Both can be right.

One Large Artwork or Several Smaller Ones?

Sometimes the right size is not a size at all.

But two artworks. Or three. Four. Six.

Especially with photographic series, several works together can develop something that a single image cannot.

Colours, forms and structures begin to react to one another.

Individual images become a new image in the room.

A series does not have to be complete to work as a series.

Two works can form a pair.Three create a rhythm.

Four or six can become a surface of their own.

And sometimes it really is the complete series.

Can I Combine Several Artworks from a Series?

Yes.

Within a photographic series, individual works already share an idea, a visual language or a creative process.

This often makes them very natural to combine.

In 12 Houses, colours, façades, grids and architectural structures can react

to one another across several images.

In Fruits for Coco, connections emerge through colour, surface and structure.

In Neon Kiss, through colour, material and pixels.

But the boundary of a series is not the boundary of the wall.

Works from different series can be combined as well.

A colour from Neon Kiss might reappear in 12 Houses.

The structure of a façade next to the surface of a fruit can suddenly make both look different.

The works do not have to come from the same series.

Nor do they have to be particularly similar.

Different works can create a story of their own.

What that story is no longer depends on the series.

It depends on you.

How Much Space Should There Be Between Artworks?

There are tables for that.

We don't use them.

The closer works are placed together, the more they are perceived as a group.

More space gives each individual work greater independence.

In a row or a grid, consistent spacing can create a sense of calm.

With a looser arrangement, the distances can vary.

What matters is less the exact number of centimetres than the relationship between the size of the artwork, the frame and the empty wall.

The wall is part of the composition.

Do Several Artworks Have to Be the Same Size?

No.

Matching formats create calm and give different motifs a common framework.

Different sizes, on the other hand, create movement.

A larger work can become the starting point, with smaller works responding to it.

Both can work.

What matters is not that everything is the same.

But what happens between the works.

Can I Try Out the Size of an Artwork Beforehand?

Yes.

And you don't need complicated room planning to do it.

Mark the outer dimensions of the format on the wall with masking tape, or hang up a piece of paper of the same size.

Then don't just stand directly in front of it.

Walk through the room.

Sit down.Come in through the door.

Look at the format from the distance at which you will actually encounter it later.

Because that is where it has to work.

Not on the measuring tape.

Our Fine Art Prints are available in different formats depending on the edition. Individual works can stand on their own just as well as combinations

of several images or a complete series.