Gallery Wall #4-Drawing, 2018
Ji Eun Kim
Gallery SoSo
Few tasks are as simultaneously exciting and daunting for a collector as hanging a home gallery wall, especially for the first time.
Gallery walls, also known as salon walls, are a popular way of hanging groups of artworks. Rather than centering a single painting on a wall, gallery walls hang several works in a clustered arrangement ranging from a handful of works to well over a dozen. But where to start?
You’ve done the fun part and found and purchased a few artworks you love. You may have even had them framed. Now, you find yourself staring down a blank wall and wondering where on earth to begin. At the back of your mind, there may be a nagging sense that there is a right way to do this.
First, take a deep breath and know you’re not alone. The fact is, crafting the perfect gallery wall is not a one-size-fits-all affair, which is part of what makes it an art in itself.
“There are no absolute rules when it comes to hanging art,” said Hirofumi Miyauchi, dealer at Andecian Gallery. “Trying to achieve perfection in the absence of rules can feel overwhelming precisely because of that absolute freedom.”
Still, interior designers, dealers, and artists all agree that there are some genuinely useful tips and tricks to crafting the gallery wall of your dreams. The biggest hurdle might be learning how to trust your own eye.
If hanging a gallery wall has been on your agenda, don’t shy away. We’ve consulted the experts and put together a step-by-step guide to demystifying the process, setting you—and your art—up for success.
Few tasks are as simultaneously exciting and daunting for a collector as hanging a home gallery wall, especially for the first time.
Gallery walls, also known as salon walls, are a popular way of hanging groups of artworks. Rather than centering a single painting on a wall, gallery walls hang several works in a clustered arrangement ranging from a handful of works to well over a dozen.
But where to start?
You’ve done the fun part and found and purchased a few artworks you love. You may have even had them framed. Now, you find yourself staring down a blank wall and wondering where on earth to begin. At the back of your mind, there may be a nagging sense that there is a right way to do this.
First, take a deep breath and know you’re not alone. The fact is, crafting the perfect gallery wall is not a one-size-fits-all affair, which is part of what makes it an art in itself.
“There are no absolute rules when it comes to hanging art,” said Hirofumi Miyauchi, dealer at Andecian Gallery. “Trying to achieve perfection in the absence of rules can feel overwhelming precisely because of that absolute freedom.”
Still, interior designers, dealers, and artists all agree that there are some genuinely useful tips and tricks to crafting the gallery wall of your dreams. The biggest hurdle might be learning how to trust your own eye.
If hanging a gallery wall has been on your agenda, don’t shy away. We’ve consulted the experts and put together a step-by-step guide to demystifying the process, setting you—and your art—up for success.
Start with the wall, not the art
Window Watcher 1,2,3 (Triptych), 2020
Robert Pokorny
aous
Choosing the wall you want to display art on before picking the art itself might seem like putting the cart before the horse, but trust the process. The wall is your canvas, and you can work backwards from there.
When selecting a wall, you’ll want to consider the dimensions, how light moves across it through the day, and what furniture sits below it. These constraints can become useful guideposts for selecting the right works.
But this is an art, not a science, so don’t get too bogged down in specifics.
“There isn’t really a strict rule for the ideal wall, except perhaps to favor the walls your eye is naturally drawn to when you enter a room,” said Sandra Benhamou, a Paris-based art collector and furniture and interior designer. Benhamou is not one to shy away from surprising spaces either. She encourages collectors to think about “hanging a work in an unexpected place, giving a forgotten corner or passageway a new purpose.” Her one suggestion, however, is to avoid walls that face direct sun throughout the day, which could bleach paper works and photographs over time.
Some sunlight, however, should be embraced, not eschewed. Gallerists and artists Nicky and Rob Carter, who run the London gallery space RNat5A, say “changing daylight is absolute magic” for art. In their dining room, they note that the shifting sun transforms the mood throughout the day.
How to choose artworks that belong together
"The Room of Ideas", The Architect’s Room, Geometric Abstraction, Pop and Contemporary Pop, 2025
Neo Bauhaus
GF | Gallery Fedoroff
When hanging a gallery wall, it can be wise to unlearn the impulse to make things match. Too much sameness can feel forced and stale. Instead, invite the possibility for unexpected discovery between seemingly dissimilar works.
“Don’t be afraid to place pieces together that may seem unrelated, whether in style, value, or historical importance,” said Benhamou. “A modest work can become incredibly noble when it finds its rightful place, and a masterpiece doesn’t need to be surrounded by other masterpieces or occupy the center of the wall to shine.”
Others put it more bluntly. “Never match your art to your soft furnishings,” said Rob and Nicky Carter. “Works go together simply because you chose them,” they add.
Mohamed Benhadj, gallery director and curator at Al-Tiba9 gallery in Barcelona, encourages collectors to find relationships between works that are intellectual rather than visual. “A strong gallery wall is usually connected by the idea that relates each piece to another,” he said. That shouldn’t be confined to mediums, either, he adds: “Don’t be afraid to combine painting, photography, and prints.”
Miyauchi, meanwhile, suggests mixing several arrangements until something clicks visually. “Hanging multiple paintings could be compared to a chord in music,” he said. “An unexpected combination might beautifully come together.” He encourages collectors not to over-intellectualize the process to start. “It is more than enough to look at books or the internet and simply imitate what somehow catches your fancy,” he added.
Thinking about scale, spacing, and arrangement
Gathering, 2026
Allison Gildersleeve
Upsilon Gallery
When placing works together in a group, the frames don’t need to match each other. But they should suit each individual artwork.
“I don’t believe a frame should ever be separated from the artwork it belongs to,” Benhamou said. “It should reflect the work’s format, medium, and period.” The Carters agree. “Frame the artwork, not the room.”
Benhadj, who mixes finishes within his own collection—for example, thin natural wood on a set of drawings, a minimalist black frame on a large print, and an ornate gilt frame on a modern oil painting—recommends anchoring variety with one dominant style so the wall gains character without becoming too visually noisy. “I enjoy seeing different frame styles when there is a clear intention behind the selection,” he added.
How to know when to stop
Aura of an Interior, 2023
Degard
Visionary British Museum
Knowing when a gallery wall is complete is both subjective and essential. Benhamou tells collectors not to rush to conclusions. “The most beautiful arrangements evolve over time, just like the collection itself,” she said. The Carters offer a simpler test: “You stop when it stops making you smile.” A gallery wall, experts agree, is never truly permanent. Pieces can move, rotate, and rest until their moment comes back around.
Miyauchi even encourages collectors to rotate artworks over time. “I recommend changing your paintings on special days, such as the summer and winter solstices, birthdays, or Christmas,” he said. “You change them just like you would open a window to let fresh air into a room. The paintings you take down can rest until the timing is right for them again.”
All the experts believe that one key to crafting the perfect gallery wall is leaving it open to the possibilities of the future.
As Benhadj puts it, “what connects well on a particular wall today might connect even better with works that become part of their collection in the next 5 or 10 years.” A gallery wall that feels slightly too today, she said, can be an invitation to discover what’s next.
