Wall Art Size Guide: Choosing the best size artwork for your wall

Posted on Nov 02, 2020 By Sheetal Toor

size guide

How to decide what size wall art will work for your room:

The Room

When picking art for any room it's always best to consider the amount of furniture that you have in your visual field:

An empty wall space can overwhelm a work that is too small.
A large piece of artwork will fill out a room and create a focal point.
High ceilings allow for larger pieces whilst low ceilings may suit a shorter height and possibly suit a landscape orientation.

Creating a focal point with the Majestic Lion Wall Canvas Print

Orientation

Narrow walls work best with art that is portrait as it helps create a sense of height and openness. Horizontal wall spaces work best with landscape oriented artwork.

Narrow Wall Example: Unicorn Wall Art Print

The Size

Your artwork should take up two-thirds to three-fourths of the available wall space.

Here is a formula that can also help:

[wall width] x 0.57 = [ideal width of artwork]

Hanging Over Furniture

If you would like to create a focal point above a piece of furniture such as a sofa or headboard, the artwork should be two-thirds to three-fourths smaller than your furniture and hung 6"-12" above the top. Do not choose artwork that is wider than the width of the furniture.

Artwork that is being placed on an empty wall should be hung with the centre of the piece at eye level.

Gallery Walls

Gallery walls are a great fun way to fill out a large space. This is a great option when you cannot decide on one piece of artwork, cannot afford a larger piece or you simply want to create some visual interest.

You can create a salon/gallery wall by creating a grid of equally sized pieces or by grouping together various sizes of artwork on your wall.

As a guide, hang larger pieces 2 to 3 inches apart and smaller pieces 1.5 to 2 inches apart.

Gallery or Salon Wall Example Art By Toor

Gallery Wall Example

Try It Out First

Before you start adding holes in your wall it's advisable to visualise the artwork first.

Pro Tip: Get some low adhesive masking tape and map out the position and size of the artwork on your wall to ensure you are happy with the placement.

When creating a gallery wall, lay your artwork on the floor and measure the total height and total width of the group before making your final arrangement.

Alternatively, you can test out a gallery wall layout in your room with my artwork using the 'Try In Your Room' software. Simply upload a photo of your wall, add my artwork to the wall and size and position it how you like!