When it comes to art, everyone has their own tastes. The colors that we like and subjects that are portrayed in which we may connect with change with who you are as a person. You can like different mediums with paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, etc… However, the most consistent variable that people have a preference for is the size of the works.

If you are looking to fill a room with art, it should be able to take the stage and set the tone especially if meant as a centerpiece. The only way to be able to do this is by being a large enough display for the room it is in! A typical living room will have a large empty spot behind the couch or over the fireplace which needs something several feet in height and width.

In a one-bedroom apartment with my wife, we had a 40x60 inch print behind the couch. She was concerned when I ordered it in that size fearing that it would overwhelm the space. Once up, we realized it could have been even larger because of the vaulted ceilings opening the area up so much!

You don’t want your home to feel like the Louvre in Paris where the Mona Lisa is on display! While the Mona Lisa is a wonderful piece of art history, the room it is on display doesn’t do it justice. The painting is dwarfed by the wall space around it and seems less impressive because of this fact.

I was also able to go to a small gallery in Iowa recently that was lucky enough to be displaying a Van Gogh painting that I recognized. It was a similar story to the Mona Lisa, but to a lesser extent because I was able to get closer to the work. I was about to walk right past the display because it seemed like just another wall with a small painting. Luckily, I noticed because I was paying attention, but had it not been a museum I would have ignored the painting as it was too small for the wall it was on.

At the same gallery, I walked into a massive room with an entire wall taken up by a Roy Lichtenstein piece called “Pyramids”. It was immersive to see a painting that large in the largest section of the museum. This is exactly the impact one should be looking for when selecting a display for a living space. Choose the size, dimensions, colors, and medium you would like to display in the room. Settling for a smaller artwork that doesn’t create the same sense of awe only sets yourself up for disappointment and a need to look for a replacement for that purchase in the future.