The Fine Art of Hanging Art

Say you've fallen in love with a new painting, convinced its blues and reds will look brilliant in your living room. You rush home and hold it up against the wall, but it’s too large -- or dark -- for the spot you had in mind. Instead of rearranging all your artwork to find a home for your new favorite, prop it against a wall and stand back. Walk past in daylight and in moonlight. Ponder a classic, funky or rustic frame, artificial lighting or alternate spaces until you find a perfect home that brings out everything you love about it.

Hanging art is an art in itself. Not confident about your hanging ability? These tips will empower you to place your treasured art in the best possible location.

"How and where you exhibit [your artwork] can make a modest painting better -- or ruin a masterpiece,” said Meg Nicks, owner of Sunny Raven Gallery in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. “Take the time to pick the right spot for your fine art.”

A single painting is commanding above a mantle, bed or sofa, but it can look lost alone on a large wall. Hang it in a smaller space or together with other works. Put solo pieces beside a bookcase or window (but not where sunlight can fade the colors), where they fill the space without looking like orphans. Hang so the bottom of the frame is 8 to 10 inches above a sofa or mantle, and highlight the piece with a ceiling light.

Speaking at an exhibit of her oil paintings, Canadian painter Patti Dyment said although her subjects range from dramatic Canadian Rockies landscapes to children playing along a creek, two factors bring them together: her trademark muted palette and uniform wooden frames. She suggests grouping paintings along similar lines; keeping the color story and frames uniform are two unifying factors that create a cohesive look. If you want to go for a mismatched look, that's fine, too. Just make sure the disparate colors and textures are complementary, rather than at odds.

Five Framing Tips

These five tips will make framing a lot less of a chore and more of an art:

Frames: Nicks recommends wood or metal frames to protect fine art. “Plastic frames are poor for strength,” she said.

Picture Wire: Screw metal plate wire holders one-third of the way down the back of a small frame and wrap with plastic-coated picture wire. Nicks leaves a slight give in the wire to allow fingers to slip it easily over nails.

WallBuddies: Buy kits for large pictures up to 40 or 80 pounds. Screwed into the sides and top edges of a frame, the metal plates are secure and have saw-toothed edges to hold frames level on nails (great for areas near slamming doors).

Mats: Glass against paper causes mold and distorts paper as it tries to expand and shrink as humidity changes. Use acid-free mats with your frames to provide a protective air space. Preserve expensive artworks with archival cotton rag mats, gummed linen tape and conservation glass to block out pigment-damaging ultraviolet light.

Stud Finders: Use an inexpensive stud finder to mark where you can hang heavy pictures. Measure the height of the picture wire or metal hangers and hammer in needle-point nails at an oblique angle to hang securely.

Once you get started hanging groups of paintings, the question arises: How high -- or low -- should you go? Galleries hang paintings at eye level (or a maximum of 6 inches above or below eye level). Establish this by marking where your eyes focus on the wall. Use a level or straight edge to hang pictures so their middles are at that level. Hang smaller stacked paintings above and below this line.

Just as important as hanging paintings at the right level, is making sure they're not too close together or far apart (both of which can ruin the visual impact). “Never crowd paintings," said Dyment, who helps hang art exhibits in Canadian galleries. "Pictures need space. You can hang a lot of pieces, but each one needs space to look its best.” To achieve a good look, follow the established, gallery-tested guideline of spacing each painting 8 to 12 inches from its neighbor.

The perfect frame and wall placement mean nothing, though, if the lighting isn't right. Natural light is the best -- except when it falls directly on a painting’s fragile pigments. Supplemental light highlights your art at the flick of a switch and causes no damage. “Don’t put a dark picture in a dark corner,” said Dyment. “It robs it of all impact.” But what if the perfect spot is dark? Easy: Illuminate it with a task light. Because natural light varies with the weather, subsidize it with artificial lights. These can be indirect wall washers or a track-light system. Both are installed in the ceiling to illuminate from above. Use floodlights, not spotlights, said Dyment -- they illuminate evenly without shadows. Spotlights are narrowly focused and are generally so intense that they wash out colors in a painting. Floodlights brighten several works at once and light large areas when positioned carefully; the result is a professional, gallery-quality look — which, of course, is the ultimate goal.