Ocean Wall Art

Ocean Wall Art: A Question of Distance

Work out how close people will actually stand before choosing the image, because sea pictures come in two incompatible kinds. A close study of water — foam, spray, the texture of a breaking wave — is full of fine detail that only pays off within a couple of paces. A wide, minimal horizon with a band of sea and a band of sky is the opposite: it needs distance to settle, and at close range it is two rectangles.

Hallways, stairwells and the wall beside a desk are close-viewing positions. People pass within arm's reach, so detail is rewarded and a textural image is doing something useful. Living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms are long-viewing positions, seen mostly from four or five paces at the same angle every day, and there the calm horizon wins because it can be taken in whole.

Colour behaves oddly with this subject. Sea images run from near-white sand and pale turquoise all the way to slate grey and black. Pale versions disappear on pale walls and need either a darker wall or generous clear space around them; dark, stormy versions need light in the room or they sit as a heavy block. Look at your wall in the afternoon before deciding which end you want.

There is a horizon rule worth respecting. If the image has one, hang it so the horizon falls at or slightly below seated eye level in a room where you sit, and standing eye level in a room where you stand. A horizon above eye level makes a space feel oddly enclosed, which is precisely the opposite of why people buy sea pictures. Try this before ordering: view a candidate on your phone from the far side of the room and see whether it still holds together. If it turns into a grey smear, it is a close-viewing image and belongs in the hall rather than above the sofa.