Displaying art in your home: height, light, walls and the mistakes that damage works

A work of art spends most of its life on a wall in a home, and that wall decides how long it lives. We have taken back works from collectors that were hung over a fireplace for a decade and were never the same. The rules are few, cheap to follow and almost universally ignored, so here they are, with the reasons.

Height: the only number that matters

Hang a work so that its centre sits between 145 and 152 centimetres from the floor. That is the eye height of a standing adult and the height every museum uses. Most homes hang too high, because the wall looks empty above; resist it. Over a sofa, a bed or a console, the rule changes: 15 to 25 centimetres above the furniture, and the work (or the group) about two thirds of the furniture’s width, so that the two read as one composition.

Light: the enemy you cannot see

Direct sunlight fades pigments, yellows paper and cracks varnish, and the damage is permanent. No work should face a window that receives sun, and nothing on paper should be near one at all. Works on paper and photographs belong behind UV-filtering glass or acrylic, on an acid-free mat, in a frame that does not touch the surface. LED lighting is safe; halogen and incandescent lamps heat the work and should be at a distance.

Walls to avoid

Above a fireplace or a radiator: heat rises and dries the work unevenly; soot settles on it.

Bathrooms and kitchens: humidity, grease and temperature swings.

Exterior walls in cold climates: condensation behind the frame.

Under a skylight: the sun moves; the work does not.

Climate: stable is more important than perfect

Paintings, paper and wood want 45 to 55 % relative humidity and 18 to 24 °C, but above all they want stability. A room that swings from a dry winter with the heating on to a humid summer is worse than a room that is slightly off all year. In Mexico City the problem is dryness; on the coasts it is humidity and salt. A hygrometer costs less than a frame.

Hanging a group

Lay the works out on the floor in the shape of the wall before you make a hole. Keep 5 to 8 centimetres between frames, and give the group one rule to rest on: a shared centre line, a shared top edge or a shared bottom edge. Mixed frames work when the rule is strict; mixed rules never work. Use two hooks per work above 60 centimetres wide, and hang heavy works on the wall’s structure, not on plaster.

Sculpture, ceramics and video

Sculpture needs a base that is level and larger than its footprint, away from doors and children’s routes. Ceramics should never sit where a vibration (a speaker, a washing machine) can walk them off an edge. Video and digital works need the display the artist specified, or one that respects the aspect ratio and the loop; a certificate for a video work states this, and it is worth reading.

The mistakes we see most

Works hung 30 centimetres too high, everywhere in the house.

Paper in a frame without UV glass, facing a window.

A painting over the fireplace because “that is where a painting goes”.

Cleaning the surface of a work with a cloth or, worse, a product.

Moving a work every few months and storing it leaning against a wall, face out.

A work hung at the right height, in the right light, on a stable wall, will outlive its owner. Almost every restoration we have paid for came from ignoring one of these three.

How avant.dev helps

Art advisory is what we do every day from Mexico City: we help collectors discover, acquire and build collections of original contemporary art, with the paperwork, the delivery and the certificate handled. If you would like a second opinion before your next acquisition, book a free 30-minute consultation or browse the works available now.