Why do people even decorate the house with paintings? And what purpose do you personally pursue? There are several answer options, maybe you will find one of them, or all at once, or you will find a hundred of their options.
1. tradition
If you grew up in a house where there were paintings on the walls, then bypassing teenage revolts, you will still come to the fact that living with art is more pleasant. Paintings will be associated with a cozy home. And if you want to instill this feeling in your children, start right now. Children will absorb art as a sponge absorbs water and will be grateful for such a generous gift.
2. education
Art and visual images are a huge part of our culture. Art at arm's length is not the same as seeing a painting in a museum or gallery, behind a red rope, under the watchful eye of a caretaker. Watching the same picture for days, months and even years can open up new and new meanings and show how you change yourself.
3. communication
Art is a reason to talk. You can discuss paintings in a family, with grown-up children, starting with simple plot questions and ending with art history and theory. The painting on the wall can be a center of conversation with guests, especially if the story of its purchase and choice was unusual. The painting is a collection of stories. Which one of them to tell today, depends only on you.
4. Status
The picture is not a matter of prime necessity, which means that you have time and money to do more than just survive and feed. The choice of the picture can say a lot about the owner: will it be a copy of old masters, foreign or domestic, a work of modern art or circulation graphics, poster or original?
5. Feelings
Well, that's the most important thing. The painting is not about design and decoration, the painting is about your sense of beauty and mood. Your personal sense of beauty. The landscape you brought from the trip, bought from the hands of an artist in a picturesque street, chosen by you for the light and color of still life, your favorite face in the portrait can quickly change the mood in the room. It doesn't matter how much a painting costs or how famous its author is, if it resonates with you.
How to choose the size of a picture?
The main principle is to start from the size of the room.
1. Relate the size of the free space to the size of the picture
It is impossible to squeeze a three-metre thick battalion canvas in a golden frame with a thickness of an elbow into a crisp (although the gust is worthy of respect!). If you can't imagine the size of the picture, cut a template out of paper or any other improvised material and tape it to the wall. Now move it, move it away, get closer, evaluate it from different angles. Some galleries even have a service - a picture for fitting. This is when the selected works are brought to your home, and you can choose what suits you best on the spot.
2. Space around the painting
Let's make sure there's plenty of room around the painting. Art loves space: there should be indents on all sides, as if the wall were another additional frame that hugs the work, giving it the opportunity to breathe. Do not press the paintings tightly against cabinets, the bottom of the sofa or shelves.
3. build on the viewpoint
The center of the picture should be about the level of your eyes or slightly higher - do not hang the work too high so that you do not have to throw your head back too much. If the work hangs over a table or sofa (a traditional location), you should be comfortable looking at it when you are sitting down.
4. Assigning a room
Determine where you want to find the painting? It can be any room except the bathroom, perhaps. There, the high humidity will spoil any work, especially the graphic one, over time.
5. Lighting
Pictures (and graphics especially) are not recommended bright sunlight, so do not hang them on the south side. The paper may fade over time, and the colors may change their brightness. Indirect lighting or special light, such as sconces or floor lamps, is best, as well as spotlights that you will turn on in the evenings.
6. Will we hang?
And yes, you don't have to hang up your work! A large picture can be on the floor or furniture (unless you have small children or pets in your home), a small picture can be placed on a shelf or window sill, on a desk. If you have plenty of space, the painting can stand on an easel.