Decorating With Art Or How To Choose The Right Painting For Your Home
First of all, why do we need art at home? In a nutshell, it doesn’t have any practical purpose which has furniture, lighting or curtains. One of the reasons is that art has a very powerful emotional impact on us as it concentrates thoughts, aspirations, feelings and fears of a person who created it.
In that sense, it is really important to select artwork which is appealing to you. I might even say that you need to be as meticulous as when choosing a life partner. Would you live your life next to a person who causes antipathy? Art is the same thing: you will see it every day and you have to really like it. Another reason for having paintings at home is that with their help you can drastically transform the space: make it look bigger, enhance the colour scheme and correct proportions of furniture.
When it comes to buying art many people are stuck making a decision. How to choose the right one? Which one will suit the house? Will it be investment or loss of money?
There are two possible situations you might be when choosing art. The first one is when you fall in love with a particular work, buy it and then build your home decor around it. Painting, in that case, serves as a primary source of inspiration: you may pull out the colours, textures and shapes from it and then introduce them in interior design through furniture, accessories and textile.
In the second situation you have to find an artwork which would match existing or future decorative scheme and that might be a little bit more challenging. But in this scenario, you’ll have access to more choices, especially if your home is Minimalisc, as they so often are. You can find plenty of paintings from emerging and acclaimed artists online that suit your decorative scheme.
Here are some simple tips for buying art paintings which might help you to create harmonious and beautiful environment:
Colours
One of the common interior design tricks is repetition of colour. If you have a painting with lots of blue, introducing the same colour somewhere else in the room will create a feeling of continuity and flow. This can be done through accessories – decorative cushions, rugs, vases and vessels:
Alternatively, painting can be a bright spot in mainly neutral interior. This usually works great in modern minimalistic and Scandinavian spaces: without that pop of colour they would look too sterile and uninviting.
Painting can also be a part of the overall decorative scheme. For example, if you are creating design using complimentary colours, the orange sofa that you have can be beautifully balanced with blue painting:
Lines
Paintings with mostly horizontal lines, such as landscapes, marine art, still life are usually more peaceful and calming than those with vertical lines: pictures of city skyscrapers, standing people or trees.
That’s why it makes sense to use the first type in such spaces as bedrooms and bathrooms and the second one in the offices, kitchens and living rooms. Below are two examples of interiors created by Kelly Hoppen that vividly illustrate this principle:
Motion or stillness
All paintings can be conventionally divided into two categories: depicting still life and depicting movement. If you want to create a serene and relaxing environment, choose the first one: landscapes, nature morte, portraits. Otherwise, for bringing energy and liveliness to the space find paintings with motion. This doesn’t necessarily have to be pictures of running horses, it can also be abstract paintings with curvilinear forms or lines in different directions which are subconsciously associated with movement:
Style and theme
Another important thing to pay attention to while choosing art is the style you have or want to create in the room. Thus, for traditional homes, designers usually choose portraits, landscapes, black and white photography. Abstract art and surrealism look great in contemporary spaces. In eclectic interiors you can actually mix different styles together, however, you need to have enough experience and skills to beautifully match them. If you have chosen a particular theme for decorating your house, e.g. Moroccan or coastal, art can be a wonderful instrument for creating complete and harmonious look. When working within particular theme don’t be too literal: if you design interior in marine style, hanging a large painting of sea or ship on the wall might look too naive and amateur. The greater effect can be achieved using more creative approach: you can place a zoomed image of marine rope or abstract painting done in blue and turquoise – colours of the sea.
I hope this tips were helpful and you will be able to find art for your home which you will enjoy for many years. Which principles do you follow when choosing art for your home? As usually looking forward for your comments!
