Wall Art for Living Room

The living room is usually where artwork has the most impact in a home. It is often the largest shared space, the room guests see first, and one of the few places where a truly large piece of art can be given enough room to breathe.

When collectors contact me looking for wall art for a living room, the conversation usually starts with the same questions. How large should the artwork be? Should it go above the sofa or fireplace? Would one large photograph look better than several smaller pieces? And how do you choose something that works with the room without making the artwork feel like it was selected simply to match the furniture?

These are exactly the kinds of questions I help collectors work through every day.

My collection includes large landscape photography, nature photography, panoramic photographs, vertical compositions and multi panel artwork designed for spaces ranging from relatively small living rooms to very large contemporary homes with high ceilings and expansive walls.

The goal is not simply to fill an empty wall. It is to find a photograph that becomes part of the room and that you are still going to enjoy looking at years from now.

Fine Art Photography for Living Rooms

Explore limited edition landscape and nature photography available in sizes designed for living rooms, great rooms and other large residential spaces.

Fullscreen Slideshow

Owl Creek Pass in Colorado framed by brilliant autumn aspens beneath the rugged San Juan Mountains and dramatic storm clouds.

Misty autumn birch forest with tall white trunks rising above dense red, orange, and yellow foliage, creating a soft, atmospheric woodland scene.

Tree-lined walkway in Central Park, New York City, with lush green canopy arching over a paved path and classic park benches at golden hour.

Tree-lined path forming a tunnel of vivid red and orange autumn leaves, with tall trunks on both sides and a leaf-covered walkway stretching into the distance.

Shockwaves | Abstract Photography | Aaron Reed

Mount Rainier rising above the Washington landscape

Vibrant autumn Japanese maple tree with twisting, moss-covered branches and fiery red-orange leaves spreading over a lush green garden beside a calm pond.

Large Wall Art for Living Rooms

In most living rooms, I prefer one substantial piece of artwork over a collection of smaller pieces.

Large photographic artwork creates a much cleaner visual presentation and allows the details in the image to be appreciated from across the room as well as up close. This is particularly important with my landscape and nature photographs, many of which contain small details that become much more noticeable as the print increases in size.

A large photograph can also visually anchor the room.

Instead of competing with furniture, windows, shelving and other objects, the artwork establishes a primary focal point. This works especially well in modern homes where the interior architecture tends to include larger uninterrupted wall spaces.

All of my photographs are available in sizes ranging from approximately 36 to 84 inches wide, with selected pieces available at considerably larger sizes.

For particularly large walls, I regularly produce photographs up to 120 inches wide.

Wall Art Above a Sofa

The wall above a sofa is one of the most common places collectors install my work.

It is also a space where people frequently choose artwork that is too small.

A photograph that looks substantial when viewed by itself on a computer screen can suddenly look undersized once it is hanging over an eight or nine foot sofa.

As a general starting point, I usually recommend that the artwork occupy a significant portion of the width of the sofa below it.

For many standard living rooms, photographs between 48 and 72 inches wide work extremely well above a sofa. Larger sectionals or long furniture arrangements may require artwork in the 72 to 100 inch range.

The exact size depends on the width of the furniture, ceiling height, available wall space and how much visual impact you want the artwork to have.

For a long wall, a panoramic landscape photograph can be particularly effective because its proportions naturally follow the horizontal shape of the sofa.