How to choose the perfect work of art for your home

Interior design has a profound impact both on the atmosphere dominating a house and the mood of its residents.
The right choice of items and the tasteful combinations can convert an otherwise bland space into an impressive house, creating a cosy and hospitable environment.
Apart from the furniture, lighting and carpets, another component essential to proper decoration is none other than works of art.
They are the final touch offering harmony, beauty and uniqueness to a space.
The beautiful combination of artworks shapes the character of a house and defines the owner’s personality.

main image credit

As a result, once you start on this selection process, it makes perfect sense that you should feel concerned about your decision, the proper size, the right colours and the suitable style that suits your space.
If you follow the hints below, then perhaps the prospect of choosing artworks might seem less daunting.

Go with your gut feeling

When it comes to art, there’s no such thing as a “must” – we choose based on our personal criteria and our intuition.
Art is a vehicle of personal expression through colour, subject and texture.
That’s why you should select with the heart, making sure that each of the pieces evokes strong feelings in you.
All the same, don’t make hasty choices!
Ask yourselves what it is that you’re particularly fond of in a specific painting: the colours, the subject or something else?
Take another look at it in an hour or on the next day and if it still inspires the same feelings, then go ahead and buy it.

Έργα τέχνης - artwall -2 — via pinterest

Think about style

If your house deco choices observe certain rules, such as investing in neutral sofas or floors, go for statement choices for your walls that are out of the ordinary, intense or eclectic.
Be bold!
If your decoration is vintage with antiques, don’t be afraid to blend it with big, modern works of art. Similarly, if you have minimal decoration, try installing works with a dramatic or gloomy character.
The result will be simply revealing!

Choice of colour

First of all, consider if you’d like the room that you’re decorating to have a more formal or plainer atmosphere.
Bright and light colours add a casual feel to the house -especially those works of art without a bold frame; on the other hand, a painting with a depiction, structure and darker hues will result in a more formal character for your space.

If you’d like the work of art to stand out and become the focal point in the room, then everything around it must highlight it.
If, for instance, the dominant colour in the work of art is in a warm hue, then all the decorative items surrounding it should be in cold hues in order to accentuate it.

Finally, find something beautiful in black and white.
I know it may sound strange, but somehow a black and white piece of art can work virtually everywhere.

Consider the artwork scale in comparison to the room size

As a rule of thumb, if you have a small room, a big work of art will make your space look bigger.
If you have a lot of smaller pieces on the wall of a small space, then the room will look cramped and stuffy.

Choose the shape of your work of art to complement the shape of the room as much as possible.
That is to say, on a high rectangular wall, installing a vertical rectangular painting will look perfect.
Similarly, over a sofa, the choice of a horizontal rectangular shape will offer grace and moderation.
It would be best for paintings not to exceed the two thirds of the sofa size sitting underneath it.
Small works of art cannot fill big spaces.
Group small artworks. The works of the same artist easily complement each other.

Research the artist

No matter what the actual value of the painting you’ll be choosing for your house, knowledge of the artist who created it will help you to better understand both its content and context.
Even if you can’t meet the artist in person at a gallery, you can find his/her profile of the internet and find out relevant information about his/her life and its impact on the creation in question.

Keep up-to-date with new artists

Seek out new artists, who are starting to make a name for themselves and buy their works.
The art market is a lot like real estate.
It would be difficult for you to buy a piece of property at a very high price, right?
I’ve recently read the true story of the well-known Canadian painter Zoë Pawlak, who mentioned that, decades ago, her stepfather bought a 500-dollar print by a new, unknown artist called …Andy Warhol.

Find below a discovery of my own, the artist Christina Gkoumourian.
Armenian-born Christina Gkoumourian grew up in Greece.
She studied interior design, but living on the island of Santorini, over time, she discovered her love of painting.
Since 2016, she has participated in three annual group exhibitions with local artists, while in 2018 she also launched a personal exhibition in Athens.
Her works of art reflect the course of her life and continually evolve through her experiences.

However, apart from galleries and painting exhibitions, my preferred go-to place for works of art is definitely the internet.
Here are some of my favourite addresses, where I often find inspiration and make my online purchases.