Paintings in Living Room Interior Above Sofa Photo

Guests will always admire the decoration of the central hall of an apartment or private house with high artistic works of art. Property owners will receive unforgettable satisfaction from the work done. Because carefully selecting masterpieces and beautifully placing them on the wall is truly designer and decorator art.

Rules for Selecting Artistic Images

Paintings for the living room make even a dark room brighter and more visually attractive. They maintain harmony and proportions among furniture and overall space decoration. Decorators note several important points when choosing and using paintings in interior design:

• chaotically hung artistic works of different styles on the walls can bring disharmony and an unwanted effect of lack of aesthetic taste;
  
• an interior painting exhibition implies placing works in one style or thematic unity on one wall;
  
• paintings are placed on light, non-bright surfaces without pattern (whether wallpaper, plaster, or paint), so as not to distract attention from the meaningful wall decoration;
  
• their decoration is aided by frames that surround the images, which are chosen in harmony with and structure of the nearest furniture.
  

Selection of paintings for the living room depends on: the dimensions of the hall; wall area and decoration; stylistic solution of the space; furniture parameters and its color palette; combination with interior details.

Design: Anna Muravina

Classic paintings in realistic style, executed in oil paint, imply volumetric, beautiful, refined frames. They perfectly suit classic interior style of the living room. They look flawless above a fireplace or guest sofa. Modern interior accepts abstraction, modernism - current trends in visual arts.

Aquarium is considered light and airy painting. It looks great in a stylized gallery. Still lifes, plants, rural landscapes will be indispensable in interiors designed in countryside, Provence, shabby chic style.

Retro and pop art increasingly choose works executed with acrylic paints. Hi-tech, loft, Scandinavian style look attractive with artistic photo illustrations and posters in metal frames. Graphics prefer thin frames under glass and are shown first for eclecticism.

Selection of Ideal Size Painting in Living Room Interior

Principles of visual perception of space assume:

• large paintings hide small spaces, small images in spacious rooms get lost;
• a gallery on the wall becomes an attractive artistic 'spot' and can perform the role of meaningful zoning of the hall;
• the height of the room visually increases with a large vertical canvas;
• horizontal placement of a large image creates the effect of increasing spatial frames in width area;
• medium-sized square paintings visually do not change the geometry of the room;
• a large canvas or several large images above a fireplace or sofa visually reduce the volumes of these interior items.

Design: Maxim Noda

The ideal size of a painting in the hall for receiving guests should harmonize with architectural dimensions of the room and selected furniture sizes. In urban conditions, medium artistic images are better suited. Ceiling heights over 3 meters allow one to look at vertical compositions in the image, while in other cases horizontal rectangular paintings are more appropriate.

Decorators consider the optimal size of an artistic work not to exceed half the working length of the sofa placed above it. Modular compositions can harmoniously occupy up to 2/3 of the area above the sofa back.

A small living room looks organically with a painting about 50 cm in the largest length of the frame or several images within 30 cm in the longest side perimeter: they look attractive in a gallery with no less than 3 drawings.

Selection of Image and Frame to Interior Color Palette

Color harmony in the home artistic exhibition is achieved by taking into account the overall background of the entrance hall. It depends on furniture color, walls, ceiling, floor, curtains, decorative elements. One color motif in the images and wall can be contrasted with a bright-executed frame. And vice versa, the contrast of bright pictures is 'dulled' by frames executed in tone with the wall and nearby furniture. It should be remembered that a 'juicy' wall color can 'suppress' light tones of the image, diverting attention from the subject.

Designers in decorating rooms with paintings use such a concept as rhyme. An aquarium with live fish implies a marine motif painting, a drawing with flowers – a vase with living plants, a sofa with cushions in Provence style – a harmonious image including the whole color palette used.

Design: Zhenya Zhdanova

A living room in light (white, beige, pale brown) tones is charmingly seen and perceived with paintings executed in bright, colorful artistic manner. A complement can also serve as bright contrast decorative details of the interior matching in meaning to the drawing.

White color and bright red, yellow and blue, orange and green harmonize well within the painting.

Panoramic works with 3D effect can help visually increase the space of a small living room, making it acutely bright in color decoration. For example, in Mediterranean style and ultramarine image of underwater life through a stylized illuminator can become the center of meaningful perception of space by the viewer in the living room.

A winning option in modern style is choosing monochromatic images. It is relevant and does not require special design and decorator skills.

Apartment in Sweden

Correspondence of the image selection to the living room style

Harmony in the living room interior is achieved by purposeful adherence to the selected stylistic solution. And paintings in this process are no exception.

• Modern interior style 'chooses' modernism, classicism, vintage in painting.
• Classic style allows moving away from classic academicism in art: classical portrait genre, pre-Raphaelite period of painting will be appropriate. Still lifes, landscapes also find their worthy place in the interior of the chosen style. Classic English style is attractive with images of horses, dogs, hunting scenes.
• Modernism adheres to current trends in contemporary visual arts.
• Countryside and Provence prefer landscapes of country life, still lifes, flowers in bright colorful palette characterizing natural tones inherent to nature, boundless fields, sky, forests and hills...
• For minimalism, hi-tech, loft, avant-garde motifs, monochromatic images and artistic photographs fit well. This can be cubism, abstraction and clear geometry.
• Pop-art harmonizes in the hall decoration with bright posters, prints and photographs.
• Art-deco 'loves' masterpieces of expressionist paintings, executed in oil paint and watercolor, as well as graphics and photographs as works of art.
• Fusion chooses modular image variants.

Design: 3L Decor Bureau

How to properly hang paintings in an apartment

Placing paintings in the main hall not only decorates the space but also:

• allows zoning of the space;
• makes darkened parts of the wall in a bright execution visually strikingly bright;
• diverts attention from shortcomings in the interior;
• 'hides' possible construction errors;
• allows design to create vivid accents

Typical Swedish Cottage

Paintings in the living room are placed above the sofa and console, in the fireplace area, gallery on one of the walls, on special shelves. Their 'hanging' follows simple rules of decorative art:

• Large size of each painting has an accentuated meaningful load. Therefore, their placement requires space between them. At the same time, asymmetry in arrangement is welcome.
  
• Dynamics of the interior is achieved by using paintings of different formats in one room. Rigidity of style is supported by images of the same size and similar framing.
  
• Space zoning is performed by placing paintings in the center of the selected meaningful zone. Symmetry of all space is achieved by placing a painting (gallery) in the central part of the room.
  
• An ascetic living room looks attractive when several relatively large paintings are placed above the sofa at the same height in one row without bulky frames.

Design: Alexandrina Lukach

• Decorative illustrative group above the console is supplemented by decorative items related to the narrative line or vases with living flowers.
  
• Paintings, properly illuminated by artificial light sources or located in natural rays, look much more advantageously, undeniably beautifying the interior of the hall.
  
• Comfortable are paintings hung in the fireplace area. They help harmonize all the space of the room.
  
• Images placed on the entire wall are already an art wall, as the British and Americans say. A very bold, worthy of attention solution! Such a gallery is assembled over years to maintain correspondence to a unified stylistic solution in the illustrative series.
  
• A modest placement of drawings is considered choosing shelves for them. This approach allows rapidly changing the arrangement of paintings depending on mood and creative impulse.
  

Design: Irina Uzhintsyeva

Classic or Modern: Which Theme to Choose for the Hall Interior

Classic style in modern rooms leans toward reproductions that have stood the test of time: these are globally known artists exhibited in recognized museums, galleries, Hermitage. The theme ranges from everyday sketches to characteristic portraits. The subject is chosen based on emotional impulse. Storm and tempest on canvas will bring a troubled note to the atmosphere of the living room, idyll - peace and harmony.

Modern style implies considering personal taste preferences. It is desirable that they are based on knowledge of the creative realization and artistic perception of the surrounding world by representatives of the creative spirit. Then purchasing will delight the eye, leave indelible aesthetic pleasure, not tire of bringing new artistic discoveries from viewing the image.

Design: Katerina Sizova

Modular images

Today, modular thematic images (also called segmented paintings) are relevant. They are arranged in one row with different sizes, in several rows with the same geometry. Small drawings are arranged asymmetrically around the central large image.

Popular are city images (urban landscapes), natural landscapes, flower themes, still lifes.

Paintings Above the Sofa

Paintings above the sofa are classic in the decorative genre. A large canvas is not appropriate to frame with photographs or small images 'at random'. Classic appearance is oil on canvas, memorable subject, beautiful frame.

Over a long sofa, paintings of the same size look organically arranged in a row. Preferably - a single meaningful row, forming something similar to a triptych or its artistic execution.

Arranging a composition of paintings of different sizes but the same thematic/style/color line can be achieved by placing a large composition in the center, small ones on the edges, following the rules of proper geometry. You can consider other variants: mini-gallery in an imaginary rectangle of 4-8 works, several paintings inscribed in a square (for example, one large rectangular, three small square), three identical vertical drawings in one row. Graphics and artistic photography are arranged in three rows with several works each, forming a meaningful rectangle. In short, there are many variations and all depends on the factors we considered earlier.

Paintings on Canvas in Print Technique and Photo Paintings

This is neither painting nor posters. Mostly - reproductions, having quite a presentable appearance but not possessing artistic value with all its consequences: lack of depth in color perception, magical qualities of oil paint brushstrokes...

Photo paintings are realistic - this is both their plus and minus. A painting, as a work of art, still carries more energy and aesthetic charge.

Design: Maria Pilipenko and Ekaterina Fedorova

Stylish Black-and-White Paintings

Stylish black-and-white paintings are universal: they suit any room and setting, from strict classicism to vibrant pop-art; they combine with different color palettes and furniture.

There are some rules for their proper use as decoration:

1. Combination with Furniture. Images of non-standard shapes, with broken lines, landscapes, suit well with furniture having soft outlines. Paintings depicting human faces, figures, geometric patterns suit furniture of clear, strict shapes.

2. Placement. Stylish black-and-white paintings are arranged symmetrically, observing a clear step between canvases. If a black-and-white canvas is chosen as the central part among others, it should exceed them in size. Small pictures are arranged in groups.

3. Background. The wall where the decor is placed should be light - white, beige, gray. Wallpaper is chosen smooth, without pattern, otherwise the background will attract all attention.

4. Framing. The ideal frame is thin, black.

Trendy Paintings for Interior. What's in Fashion?

Paintings for interior, like clothes, can be trendy or out of fashion. Today it can be stated that canvases painted in the spirit of classical realism (landscapes and still lifes), when decorating apartments, are used less and less. They may find their place only in the interior of strict classical style. What is in fashion?

• images with a style of expressionism or abstraction;

• traditional colored or monochromatic posters. The subject should correspond to the purpose of the room;

• modular systems with unusual, eye-catching images. Their advantage: modules do not look bulky, and they can visually expand the space, 'lift' the ceiling.

• copies of paintings by well-known impressionist artists.

Design: Olga Kulikovskaya-Eshbi, Interior Box Design: AAarchitect Bureau Design: Elena FilimonovaVideo

On the cover, design project Nasonov DesignWerke.