Pig Wall Art

Pig Wall Art

Pigs hang well beside almost anything from the same farmyard world — cattle, sheep, chickens, geese, a tractor in a field — and the reason is that pig portraits are usually shot in the same soft, slightly muddy palette. Pink, cream, straw and brown do not compete with much. What they do compete with is other pink. Put a pig portrait next to a blush-toned abstract or a flamingo and the two will fight in a way that is hard to unsee, because the pig's pink is warm and earthy while decorative pinks tend to be cool and clean.

Within a group of farm animals, the pig is usually the comic one, so give it the position that suits that. Hung as the largest piece in a set it dominates and the humour becomes the whole wall. Hung as one of three or four equals it does its job and lets the others speak. This is a subject that works better as a member of a group than as a solo feature, with one exception noted below.

Head-on piglet portraits are the exception. A single piglet looking straight at the camera, large, on its own wall, is genuinely charming and holds a room. Adult sows and boars are a different proposition — more character, more bristle, more weight — and they suit a study or a country kitchen better than a nursery.

Snout and eye detail is where quality shows. A good image has visible bristles, the wet texture on the snout catching light, and clear individual lashes. Weak ones flatten the snout into a plain pink disc, which is the point at which the animal stops looking like an animal.

Placement tip: kitchens are the traditional home, and there is a reason to think twice. Some people find livestock portraits in the room where the meat is prepared perfectly funny and others find it grim. Worth a quick check with whoever else eats there before you commit to the big one.