Great Picture hanging ideas
Hanging pictures, much like painting them, is a balancing act of spacing, colour and proportion. As any gallerist, curator or interior designer knows, the way art is displayed is crucial and transformative, not just to the space it is in, but to the feeling given off in the pictures themselves.
Fear not if your budget is more posters than Picasso. The truth is that virtually anything can look good when framed and hung properly. We've pulled some of the most inspiring examples from our archive of how to hang, display and decorate with art.
But before you dive in, we asked Julia Toffolo of Matassa Toffolo - manager and curator of some of the world's most prestigious art collections - for five pieces of advice worth considering, whether you are hanging an old master or something drawn by your five-year-old.
- 'Don't hang works of art too high on the wall (a common mistake). The ideal height of the centre of a picture (if there is no piece of furniture below it) is somewhere between 155 and 160cm off the ground.'
- 'Hang works with a view to proportion and balance. For example, if hanging a picture over a fireplace, don't leave too much space under it unless that space will be filled, visually, with e.g. a clock.'
- 'If hanging works in patterns, arrange the display on the floor first before hanging.'
- 'Hang pictures from two points - either side of the back of the frame - not from one point. Not only is this safer, but it will prevent works from shifting and moving out of alignment over time.'
- 'By all means use a spirit level to make sure pictures are level, but in the end trust your eye: dado rails, ceilings, etc. are not always level themselves.'
www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/how-to-hang-pictures-on-walls
