The One Question Before You Buy
Before you look at a single piece of art, answer this question: am I buying for the room or am I buying for myself?
If the answer is for the room — you need something above the sofa, the wall is blank and it bothers you — you will almost certainly end up with something you're bored of within two years. A piece bought to fill a space fills a space. That's all it does.
If the answer is for yourself — you saw something that stopped you, that you keep thinking about, that you want to look at every day — you will almost certainly end up with something that improves every room it enters and outlasts every other change you make to your home.
Buy art you actually want. Then find where it goes. This is the reverse of how most people buy art, and it's the only approach that works long-term.
What Art Does to a Room
Good art does three things in a room. It provides a focal point — a visual destination that the eye goes to naturally. It introduces colour, texture and narrative that furniture cannot provide. And it communicates something specific about who lives in the room that no object bought from a catalogue can replicate.
A room without art is a room without a story. It can be beautiful. It can be perfectly furnished. But it doesn't tell you anything about the person in it. Art does.
Sizing: The Rule Most People Get Wrong
Art in homes is consistently too small. This is partly because art looks large in a gallery and modest on a wall. Partly because people are afraid of committing to a large piece. Mostly because they buy without measuring.
The rule for art above furniture:
- Above a sofa: the artwork should span 60–80% of the sofa's width. A 2.2 m sofa needs art that's 130–176 cm wide. Most people hang art half that width. It looks like a postage stamp.
- Above a console or credenza: same rule — 60–80% of the furniture width.
- On a standalone wall: the art should feel like it commands the wall rather than floating on it. If the wall is 3 m wide, the art should be at least 1.5 m wide, or the wall should have two or three pieces grouped to fill 60–70% of the width.
Measure the wall and the furniture before buying. Then add 20% to whatever size you think you need. Err on the larger side — art that's slightly too big looks bold; art that's slightly too small looks lost.
Placement and Hanging Height
The universal convention: the centre of the artwork should be at approximately 145–155 cm from the floor — the average eye level of a standing adult. This means the centre of the piece is where your eye naturally rests when standing in the room.
The mistake: hanging art too high. Art hung at ceiling height is art you crane your neck to see. It looks like it's been placed out of reach rather than placed for viewing. Too low is less common but equally wrong — art at knee height looks accidental.
The exception: art above a sofa or bed should be hung lower than the universal eye-level rule, because the primary viewing position is seated. In this case, hang the bottom of the artwork 15–20 cm above the furniture's top surface. The centre of the piece will then be lower than standard — and that's correct.
Single Large Piece vs Gallery Wall
A single large piece makes a strong, simple statement. It has maximum visual impact and minimum compositional risk — there's nothing to arrange. The investment is concentrated in one decision. If that decision is right, the result is extraordinary.
A gallery wall distributes the investment across multiple smaller pieces, allows more personal narrative (photographs alongside prints alongside original works) and can be built gradually. The compositional risk is higher: a poorly arranged gallery wall looks chaotic. A well-arranged one looks like a curated collection.
For anyone uncertain about composition: start with a single large piece. It's harder to get wrong. Build a gallery wall when you have enough pieces to fill it without hunting for filler.
Framing: The Part That Changes Everything
The same print in a cheap frame and in a quality frame are different objects. The frame is not secondary to the artwork; it's part of the artwork's presentation and affects how the piece reads in the room.
The options:
- Natural wood: warm, versatile, suits organic and Japandi-influenced interiors. Available from very simple to very ornate.
- Gilded or gold-leaf: formal and classical. Works as a deliberate contrast in contemporary minimal rooms as well as in traditional settings. A gilt frame on a contemporary photograph is a specific curatorial choice that communicates confidence.
- Simple metal (brass, black, silver): contemporary, clean, the most neutral option. Suits abstract and photographic work particularly.
- Floating frame (artwork appears to float within the frame): used for canvas works, prints on thick paper and works that benefit from visible depth.
Never use a frame that doesn't fit the artwork. A mat that's too narrow makes the piece look cramped; one that's too wide loses the artwork inside it. The standard mat width of 6–8 cm for most works is a reasonable starting point; increase for small artworks to give them breathing room.
Originals vs Prints
An original painting or drawing is unique, carries the physical trace of the artist's hand and appreciates in value. A high-quality print (limited edition, signed, on archival paper) provides the artist's vision at a more accessible price point and is entirely legitimate as an art object.
The honest answer: for a room you want to live with for twenty years, an original work you genuinely love is a better long-term investment — financially and experientially — than a print you bought because it matched the sofa. A print you genuinely love is better than an original you're indifferent to. The emotional relationship to the work matters more than its market status.
Subject Matter and What Holds Up Over Time
Trend-driven art is the most expensive mistake in home decoration. The abstract blue canvas that defined an interior in 2019 looks like an interior from 2019 in 2026. Art that holds up is art with genuine content: a landscape that means something, a figure study that holds attention on repeated viewing, an abstract that rewards looking rather than just filling space.
The test: would you still want this piece in five years? In ten? If the honest answer is uncertain, don't buy it as a long-term piece. Buy a print you can live with for a few years, then replace when your eye develops.
A Practical Buying Approach
Start by measuring. Know the available wall space and the size range that works for the specific position before you go looking. Then look widely — galleries, art fairs, online platforms, artists' studios — and don't settle. The right piece is one you remember the next day. If you've forgotten it by the time you get home, it wasn't the right piece.
Budget: for an original, figure work of substance, €200–500 is the accessible entry point for emerging and mid-career artists. For known artists or auction pieces, significantly more. For high-quality limited edition prints: €80–300. Don't spend above your comfortable range hoping the piece will grow on you. It won't.
Our paintings collection includes original and limited edition works by European artists, selected for quality of execution and the specific quality of being worth looking at year after year.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How high should art be hung on a wall?
- The centre of the artwork should be at approximately 145–155 cm from the floor — the average standing eye level. Above a sofa or furniture, hang the bottom of the piece 15–20 cm above the furniture's top surface. The consistent mistake is hanging art too high. If you're uncertain, hang lower than you think and adjust up rather than the reverse.
- What size art do I need above a sofa?
- The artwork should span 60–80% of the sofa's width. For a 220 cm sofa: 130–176 cm wide. This is almost always larger than people expect. If a single piece at this size isn't available, use a diptych or group of two or three pieces spanning the same total width.
- Is it better to buy original art or prints?
- The question is better framed as: which piece do you actually want to live with? A limited-edition print by an artist you genuinely admire is a legitimate art object. An original by an unknown artist that stops you is more valuable to your home than an original by a known artist you're indifferent to. Quality of your engagement with the work matters more than its market classification.
- What style of art works in any interior?
- Abstract works with a strong composition and a limited palette tend to be the most versatile across interior styles. Landscapes in subdued tones work almost universally. Figurative work is more specific and requires more conviction. Whatever the style: buy work with genuine artistic content rather than decorative pattern-making. The former rewards long-term living with; the latter becomes invisible within months.
Browse our paintings and wall art collection and our sculptural objects — pieces selected because they hold attention, not just because they match a colour palette.
