How To Display Art Prints: The Best Way To Hang Your Framed Paintings

Decorating your home can be so much fun, but sometimes it can be a daunting process choosing how to display art prints. We have so much information available to us online, and while that can be a useful source, at times it can be overwhelming and confusing.

Design is a personal choice, and to simplify the process it’s helpful to identify what your style is.

This can give you greater clarity and help you visualise the space to be decorated. Your style, whether it be modern, traditional, art deco or minimalist, can directly influence your choices in framing art, which we discussed in last month’s article.

Framing your art and hanging it in your home can give your space a beautiful and personal touch.

Hanging art can create a focal point and spark a series of topics of conversation. How you present your art in a frame can be a design decision in itself, but what comes next is just as important as the art and framing.

What’s the best way to hang framed art? I’m not talking about using a wire and a hanging hook, and, yes, you will likely use both…but more the placement and how to display art prints on the walls of your home. To visually compliment your home decorating, the next few paragraphs will cover a few helpful tips to hanging your art.

The first tip is to know your walls and space! You are decorating your walls so choose smaller artwork for a narrow wall and larger artworks for a larger wall space.

Balance is a principle of interior design that stabilises a space! The definition of balance describes it as ‘the harmonious arrangement of component.’

Following this process ensures that no single element in a room overpowers another in terms of visual weight or dominance. In simpler terms a balanced arrangement feels right!

So, when it comes to walls, that means you don’t need to fill every wall space with hanging art! In fact an empty wall can elevate other decor in your room, like a beautifully framed fine art print above a fire place balanced by clear walls on either side.

The second tip is to hang art at eye level. Generally, this is good design practice. What this means is, when standing, your eye should fall at the middle point of the artwork.

However, the eye level rule doesn’t always apply when hanging artwork above some furniture like a bed with a bedhead, a tall dresser unit or above a mantle, for example.

When hanging above a feature in a home, the bottom of the art frame can be between 15 – 30cm above the top of the feature. Visually, you want the art and the furniture piece to feel like a cohesive unit, or visually connected.

The third tip is to carefully consider size, shape and subject matter! Framed art prints are fun to work with and can hang together in patterns that are symmetrical, asymmetrical or grouped as non-symmetrical with mixed sizes and shaped frames.

The size of your art matters when hanging art over a feature, like a couch or buffet, whether grouped or hung as a stand-alone piece, the piece or grouping should not be wider than the width of the feature.

It is recommended art should be about one half to two thirds the width of the furniture. When hanging grouped art, space the frames approximately 5 to 8cm apart and be sure that your grouped art feels balanced.

When grouping frames of different sizes and shapes – start by hanging the larger pieces first. Imagine a centre vertical line and arrange art so it looks balanced on both sides.

A larger artwork at the top of one side can be balanced out by a larger piece on the opposite bottom side. When grouping art ensure the art shares a similar element.

This maybe subject matter, like travel art or a botanical series, a colour theme, or art style like a series of line drawings or water colour designs.

This can bring a natural balance to asymmetrical grouped art. Above all have fun! Remember that you can always change the layout if something doesn’t ‘feel right.’

These are just a few top tips on how to display art prints, and you can view my fine art series and collection here.

Here’s a definition of what fine art actually is.