Wall Art Worth Hanging, From Statement Pieces to Simple Prints

A room without art looks unfinished, however good the furniture. A picture is also the easiest thing in a room to change. You can hang it in an afternoon, and it can decide the colors of everything around it.

Choose art the way you would choose anything else you love. Buy the picture that makes you look twice, and the room will follow. A big abstract can be the whole color scheme of a living room. A black and white photograph calms a busy one. Flowers bring life to a bedroom, and a piece in wood, metal, or fiber adds texture where everything else is flat.

Statement pieces for the wall above a sofa are here, along with quiet prints for a hallway, a framed set for a gallery wall, and something for a nursery.

Contemporary Orange and Teal Wall Art

Orange and teal sit opposite each other on the color wheel, and together they vibrate. Here they meet down the middle of the canvas, bright tangerine dissolving into deep sea green, with the look of thick paint dragged by a palette knife. Hang it in a neutral living room and it supplies the color scheme by itself.

Cool Blue and Yellow Abstract Sunset Art

Soft bands of blue-grey and gold drift across the picture like a sunset over water seen through mist. It is an abstract, but everybody reads it as a horizon, and that makes it restful to look at. It adds color in a gentle way to the wall over a bed or a sofa.

Sand Wall Art

At first glance this is a dark abstract. Look closer and it is sand, photographed in low light, with ripples picked out in dusky rose against near black. Mysterious and quiet, it has a great deal of depth for a picture with so little in it. Use it to anchor a pale room, or hang it on a dark wall for a moody, enveloping effect.

Minimal Blue Scribble Lines Wall Art

One continuous blue line loops over a block of sage green, like a doodle made while on the phone. That looseness is the charm, and it gives the print the spirit of mid-century studio art. A small space suits it, such as a hallway, a spot above a desk, or a place in a gallery wall.

Coral Pink Floral Botanical Art

Roses, lilies, and morning glories tumble over a coral ground in the style of an antique botanical plate, turned up to full color. Maximalists will love it. This is the print for a powder room, a dressing room, or a bedroom that wants some romance. Let it be the only pattern in the room.

Retro Teal Floral Botanical Print

Magnolias in bloom fill the print, with small birds perched among the branches, on a ground of soft teal. It has the look of hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper, and a single panel of it brings that feeling to a room. Above a console in a hall or in a dining room it looks elegant. Pink and green are an old and happy pairing.

Black Forest III Floral Art Print

Flowers in black and white are surprisingly dramatic. Here roses, blossom, and fruit crowd a dark ground like a Dutch still life with the color taken out, and the eye goes to the forms. A print like this suits a room with a strong palette of its own, because it adds pattern and no new color.

Watercolor Mountain Range

Loose washes of blue, green, and ochre make a mountain lake in a few strokes, with plenty of white paper left showing. Watercolor has a freshness all its own, and this one feels like a page from a travel sketchbook. In a bedroom or a breakfast nook it is airy and light.

Black White Manhattan Skyline Photography

From above, Manhattan is a thicket of towers, and in black and white the detail is endless. You can pick out the Empire State Building and follow the streets to the river. Big city photographs are a classic choice for a home office, a hallway, or the wall behind a sofa, and they look sharp in a thin black frame.

Black White Saguaro Cactus Photography

A single saguaro stands against a wide sky of piled clouds, with hills running to the horizon behind it. The picture is mostly space and stillness, the reason desert photographs are so calming. In black and white it works with any color scheme, and its horizontal shape is right for the wall above a bed or a long sideboard.

Vancouver Island Mountain Landscape

Sunset turns a rocky peak to copper, and the whole scene is doubled in a still teal lake below. It is a spectacular photograph, the kind that makes people stop and ask where it was taken. With color so strong, give it the main wall of a living room and keep the furniture quiet.

Pastel Beach Wall Art

Most of this picture is sky, fading from turquoise at the top to candy pink at the horizon. Then, along the bottom, comes a crowded beach seen from far above, dotted with tiny umbrellas. The effect is dreamy and a little funny, and it is pure summer. Hang it in a bathroom or a child’s room.

HAUS AND HUES Abstract Minimalist Wall Art, Framed Set

Gallery walls are hard to arrange, and a matched set takes the guesswork out. These four abstracts are composed of blocks in grey, blush, and black, each in a pale wood frame, and they are designed to hang as a grid. Their look is calm and Scandinavian. Above a sofa, a bed, or a dining bench, the four together fill a wall as a large painting would.

“You Are My Sunshine” Nursery Canvas Print, Gallery Wrap

A rainbow, a sun, and the words of the old song make up a framed set for a nursery. The colors are the muted ones of modern children’s rooms, mustard, dusty pink, and teal, so it looks sweet without being loud. Line the three up above a crib or a changing table. It is a kind thing for a child to wake up to.

Empire Art Direct “Rugged Blocks” 3D Wood Wall Art with Gold Leaf

Dozens of small wooden blocks, each cut at a different angle and finished in ivory, tan, and gold leaf, make up the panel. Light catches the faces differently through the day, so it changes as you walk past. Think of it as sculpture more than a picture. On a plain wall in an entry or above a fireplace, it adds texture and shadow to the room.

“Everything You Need” Inspirational Quote Art

Nine rounded shapes in happy color pairs sit in a grid above one line of small type, a question about already having everything you need. Bright and optimistic, the design has the look of a 1960s poster. It would be good in a kitchen, a home office, or a hallway you pass every morning.

Mid Century Modern Metal Wall Art, Starburst Atomic Geometric Sculpture, Black

Starbursts, boomerangs, and rounded squares are the shapes of the atomic age, and a black iron sculpture puts them all together. Because it is cut metal, the wall shows through, and the piece throws a shadow that becomes part of the design. Over a walnut credenza or a low sofa, it is the finishing touch for a mid-century room.

Flber Macrame Wall Hanging, Boho Tie-Dye Tapestry

Hundreds of cotton cords hang from a wooden dowel, dyed in bands of charcoal, rust, and sand that roll across like desert hills. Fiber art softens a room, and it warms up a wall of plain paint. Wide and horizontal, it belongs above a bed or a sofa in a relaxed, bohemian room.

What to Look For When Buying Wall Art

Scale matters more than most people expect. A piece that looks large in a product photo can seem small once it is on a big wall. As a rough guide, art looks right when it fills about two thirds of the wall space above a piece of furniture. A set of several frames is another way to cover that space.

Medium changes the effect too. Canvas and framed prints suit nearly any room. Pieces in wood, woven fiber, or cut metal add texture and shadow, a welcome change in a room that already has plenty of flat art.

Once you have settled on a piece, where it hangs is its own decision.