Romance Wall Art

Romance Wall Art

Nobody stands and studies this subject. It goes in bedrooms, and bedrooms have exactly two viewing positions: from the doorway at three or four metres, and from the bed itself, lying down, looking up at a steep angle. Neither of those is the close, considered inspection the image probably got when you were choosing it on a screen. That gap explains most of the disappointment people have with romantic pieces, and it is easy to avoid once you have noticed it.

The practical consequence is to favour images that work as shapes. Two silhouettes against a wash, a single embrace with clear negative space, a strong diagonal: these hold from the doorway. Detailed, delicately toned images with lots of small incident lose everything at distance and become a warm blur.

Above the bed is the most requested position and the least seen one, since you never look at it while you are in the room. If the piece matters to you, the facing wall is the better home — it is what you see on waking and what you see from the door. Put the quieter, more textural piece above the headboard, where it is doing a job of proportion rather than of image.

Script and lettering deserve a moment's thought. Any text needs to be legible from the doorway or it becomes decorative squiggle, which is fine if that is what you want but disappointing if you chose the words carefully. Short phrases in a heavy hand survive distance; long passages in fine script do not.

A last consideration that is not aesthetic: this is a subject people live with through the ordinary and the unglamorous, and imagery that is very specific — a particular pose, a heavily stylised couple — can start to feel like a slogan on a bad week. Abstracted or partial treatments tend to wear better. Stand in the doorway of the room, look at the wall, and ask whether you would still like this image at seven on a wet Tuesday morning.