The living room is usually the first wall guests see and the one you look at most. Choosing art for it can feel like a big decision, but a few simple principles make it much easier.
This guide covers scale, colour, format, groupings and light, with examples from real canvas sizes in Chen Bachar’s catalogue, from large 140 × 140 cm acrylics to small 45 × 35 cm oils.
Fame · Oil on canvas · 110×50 cm – View the artwork
Start with scale: the two-thirds guideline
The most common mistake is a painting that is too small for its wall. A widely used guideline is that art hung above a sofa or sideboard should be about two-thirds of the furniture’s width. Some designers go up to three-quarters.
For a sofa about 210 cm wide, that means a work of roughly 140 cm across. A square canvas like Chen’s John Lennon or Amy Winehouse, both 140 × 140 cm acrylics, fits that kind of wall well.
On a large empty wall with no furniture, think about the wall itself. A big canvas such as Steve Jobs (160 × 170 cm) can hold a whole wall on its own. Before you decide, mark the size on the wall with painter’s tape and live with it for a day.
Colour and mood
A painting does not need to match your cushions. It is usually better to choose one or two colours from the work that echo something in the room, and let the rest stand out.
Think about the mood you want. Warm reds and oranges feel lively and close; blues and greens feel calmer and more distant. Strong contrast draws attention, while muted tones sit more quietly in a space.
Most of all, choose something that moves you. A painting you love will work in a room you change around it, not the other way around.
I think it is a real art if it makes you stop, wonder, do, change something in yourself
Chen Bachar, ARTiculAction Art Review
One statement piece or a group?
A single large painting gives a living room a clear focal point and a calm, gallery-like feel. It works especially well in minimal interiors and above long sofas.
A group of smaller works adds rhythm and a more personal, collected look. Chen’s smaller oils, such as Venice and Venice Window (both 45 × 35 cm) or The Clown (40 × 30 cm), are the kind of sizes that pair or group easily.
If you group works, treat the whole group as one shape and apply the two-thirds guideline to its outer edges. Keep even gaps of about 5–8 cm between frames.
Portrait, landscape or square
The format of the canvas should follow the shape of the wall. Wide walls above sofas usually suit landscape or square works. Narrow walls, alcoves and the space between windows suit tall, vertical works.
Many of Chen’s oils are 120 × 80 cm, including African Woman, Gipsy and Macabi, a size that gives presence without overwhelming an average living room. Fame, the oil featured with this article, is an elongated 110 × 50 cm canvas, a format that can fill a narrow strip of wall that a standard rectangle would not.
Square works, like Thoughts or The Fisher Man (60 × 60 cm), are flexible and sit comfortably in both wide and narrow spaces.
Light, and seeing it in your room first
Check where the light comes from. Avoid hanging an original painting where direct sun hits it for hours, as strong UV fades pigments over time. A warm, soft light from the side or from above shows texture and colour best.
Each artwork page on this site includes room mockups, so you can see the painting at scale in an interior before deciding. If you have a question about a specific work, the inquiry form on the same page goes straight to Chen.
When the work arrives, https://chenbachar.art/?p=2126 explains heights and hardware. To start looking, browse the https://chenbachar.art/gallery/oil/ or the full https://chenbachar.art/gallery/.
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