Working with Vanessa Sicotte was a given once we received our new artwork collection. As a renowned creative and an avid lover of home decor, it took her absolutely no time at all to create a masterpiece of her own with six of our large-scale paintings as the base. What’s even better is that she shared six tips with us to getting the perfect gallery wall!
A statement-making way to add color and print to any room, gallery walls allow us a way to show off who we are, and what we love – and that we’re really good at decorating a space. If you feel that gallery walls are a little too “been there, done that” for your home, you should have a look at this updated, oversized version, inspired by 18th century Parisian art exhibits!
How to place your paintings
Parisian Salons, way back in the 18th century, were tasked with presenting a selection of artwork from the Academies annually. If you have a look at paintings of these early art exhibitions, you’ll notice that paintings took up a large majority of the walls, from floor to ceiling. What Vanessa Sicotte brought into her space was a reinvented version of these salons, with canvases from the ceiling all the way down to her furniture.
The frames
In terms of framing the images or paintings in your gallery wall, there are so many different ways that all work wonderfully. Some smaller gallery walls will feature frames in different formats and textures, all in the same color for continuity. In our case, we went with the opposite, The framing of the paintings is all the same, which allowed us to choose different canvases in bold tones, each telling a different story.
The theme
Choosing a theme will determine the creative intention behind your gallery wall. If color is the base of your theme, many other elements can act as an anchoring point: a similar subject, a particular ambiance, a specific medium, a period, a style… The most important thing is to choose your theme and stick to it for cohesion in your wall.
The color
Though the six pieces that Vanessa chose are all colorful, there is one key unifying element. For her gallery wall, Vanessa started off with an blue, monochrome abstract painting with gold accents, to which she added pieces with pink, coral and orange accents. You’ll notice that the final product is very colorful but also remains cohesive throughout.
The size
Size matters is something that Vanessa Sicotte firmly believes in, especially when it comes to creating gallery walls. The size of the pieces that you’re grouping together will play a big part in the visual impact of your gallery wall. You can work with a large selection of small paintings, grouped tightly together, or even with oversized pieces which will be spaced out a little more for a completely different but just as visually appealing effect.
The final touch
Vanessa Sicotte believes that, as with all creative projects, a gallery wall runs the risk of looking chaotic if it’s not based in a strong creative intention, clear vision and with a strong editorial sense. However, if you play it too safe, your wall can lack visual interest. This is why you need the perfect finishing touch. Once all of the frames have been installed, you need to take a step back and you’ll be able to clearly see if anything needs to be removed or added to make your wall complete.
