October 2, 2026

Landscape or Portrait: Which Format Belongs on Which Wall

The format is not a style decision. It is decided by the shape of the empty wall and by the furniture sitting under it.

People treat portrait and landscape as a matter of taste. It is closer to carpentry. The shape of the print has to answer the shape of the empty wall, and once you have measured the wall the answer is usually obvious.

The one measurement that decides it

Stand in front of the wall and find the empty rectangle: from the top of the furniture, or about 80 cm from the floor if there is none, up to about 30 cm below the ceiling, and between whatever interrupts the wall on each side. If that rectangle is taller than it is wide, you want a portrait print. If it is wider than it is tall, you want either a landscape print or a row of portrait ones, which is covered further down.

Where portrait wins

Narrow walls: the pier between two windows, the strip beside a door, the end of a corridor. A portrait print makes a narrow wall look deliberate instead of leftover.

Tall rooms: high ceilings leave a lot of blank wall above eye level, and a portrait piece takes up some of that height without you having to hang anything uncomfortably high.

Above a narrow console or a chest under 80 cm wide: a landscape print here overhangs the furniture on both sides and the two objects stop looking related.

Beside a doorway or an arch: a vertical shape repeats the vertical line of the frame, which is why it settles quickly.

Where landscape wins

Above a sofa or a bed. Both are wide, low, horizontal objects, and a wide print restates that line. This is the classic landscape position and the reason the format exists in most catalogues.

Above a long sideboard, over a headboard wider than 140 cm, or along a wall you walk past rather than stand in front of.

Low ceilings: a wide, shallow shape draws the eye sideways, which makes a low room read as wider than it is. A tall print in a low room does the opposite and points at the ceiling.

Our formats, stated plainly

Our canvas prints are portrait, in a 2:3 proportion, at 30x45 cm, 40x60 cm and 60x90 cm. Our aluminum panels are square, at 30x30 cm, 50x50 cm and 60x60 cm. We do not currently make a wide landscape canvas, so if you have measured a wide wall, the next section is the part that matters.

Making portrait prints fill a wide wall

A row of portrait prints reads as one wide piece. This is not a compromise, it is how most gallery walls above sofas are actually built, and it gives you something a single wide print cannot: rhythm.

The numbers are simple. Two 40x60 cm canvases with a 6 cm gap occupy 86 cm of wall. Three of them with the same gap occupy 132 cm, which suits a sofa of about 200 cm. Two 60x90 cm canvases with an 8 cm gap occupy 128 cm, and three make 196 cm, which is a wall filling arrangement for a large room.

Three rules keep a row looking intentional. Use the same size for every piece. Keep every gap identical. Align the tops, so the eye reads one horizontal line across the group.

Then centre the group as a single shape. Work out the total width, find the centre of the sofa or the wall, and measure out from there. Hang the group so the middle of the block sits about 145 cm from the floor, or 15 to 25 cm above the back of the sofa, whichever the furniture dictates.

When the wall is roughly square

Some walls do not commit: the space above a 100 cm chest, a chimney breast, the panel between two doors. A square print is the honest answer there, and we make those on aluminum. A square needs no argument about direction, which is why it settles on an awkward wall faster than either alternative.

The mistake to avoid

Do not buy a tall print for a wide wall and hope to fix it by hanging it high. Raising a print does not change its shape, it only makes the gap under it more obvious. Change the number of pieces instead of the height.