Where to Hang Artworks to Best Effect

When you've invested time and money in choosing artworks you love, you'll want to ensure that you hang them where they can be positioned to best advantage. Here are our tips to make the most of your investment.

1. Positioning relative to Room Layout

Step into your home and then into each room with fresh and critical eyes. Artworks create dynamic focal points so you want to position them accordingly

• where they will be seen on first entering your home and in spaces where they'll be admired when entertaining
• where you will enjoy them most - from your favourite chair, or perhaps whilst you're propped up in bed

2. Positioning relative to Furniture

Think about their positioning in relation to the furnishings in the room. All but the very largest artworks work best anchored to a piece of furniture

• centred above a table or sofa, rather than centred to the mid point of a wall
• but over a long, low credenza or shelving, asymmetrically balanced by other elements and objets d'art
• or along stretches of open wall, again hang well to the left or right of the midpoint

3. Positioning relative to Other Artworks

Don't make the mistake of hanging artworks at different levels - unless of course you're aiming to create a 'rogue's gallery'. And don't make the all too common mistake of hanging them too high.

• no matter how big or how small, artworks that share the same wall should share the same centre line - the height at which the centre of the work is placed relative to the floor.
• this is usually between 150 and 160 cm, or 50' and 63" in imperial terminology, depending somewhat on your own height: the idea being that, at a normal viewing distance, your eye gaze is falls naturally on the mid point of the artwork. 

Of course, whilst the above may be rules of thumb, they're not hard and fast and as with every rule, there are the exceptions that break them.

If you have a very large work, anything over 140cm high, you may well want to hang it lower than you might otherwise, so that it keeps a relationship with the floor. And with larger works, architectural features such as the top of doorways / openings often provide a better anchor to align the top edge of  an artwork.

Sometimes it's best left to the professionals. 

In major capital cities across Australia, we can arrange installation by professional fine art installers at the time of ordering your artwork.

Please just get in contact to arrange.