Paintings alignment on same wall

I have 2 paintings that I want to hang on the same wall, a few feet apart. They are different sizes (height & width) - what's the best way to align them to each other when they are hanging - so they align at the top, at the bottom or centred?

Also, what's the optimum height for hanging them?

Just my own opinion but I would say dont try to align them by their edges but by their centres/mid points.

As for height - depends on the height of your walls and whats already there (bookcases, stereo unit etc....) - if its a blank wall with nothing from floor to ceiling and the wall is 8 ft/9ft - you want to hang them slightly above eye view so that you are looking up slightly but not craning your neck to look at them - Id say to have the mid point of each ~6 foot from the floor (less or more depending on what looks well) you dont want your art to be too high to appreciate but you also dont want it too low either. It kind of depends on the room - if its a wall that will be appreciated from a distance you can get away with high, if its a wall youll be standing close to to appreciate then a bit lower.

If you are hanging above bookcasing or units then just take the mid point from the top of the bookcase/furniture unit to ceiling as mid point of your painting.

From my days of study into art gallery design, I remember the average eye level as being 1600mm from floor level. Therefore ideally (unless both are very large) they should be centred along this height. Incidentally, the optimum viewing distance is 1.4 times the diagonal measurement of paintings, so that should guide you in preventing paintings being too small or too large for a particular room or wall.

Mr Sparkle said:

Incidentally, the optimum viewing distance is 1.4 times the diagonal measurement of paintings, so that should guide you in preventing paintings being too small or too large for a particular room or wall.

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Does the same apply to television screens? For example, for someone with a 32 inch plasma television screen, the optimum viewing distance is 44.8 inches?

Not sure if the rules of viewing paintings (as created from the human eye viewpoint) apply to digital quality imagery (as in brightness, resolution, viewing angle, etc)... I would assume screen images are designed to be viewed clearly and realistically from a wide-a-range of distances as possible.

In the Irish Museum of Modern Art, as a general rule, paintings are hung with a centre height of 142cm (more or less 56 inches).

In all galleries around Dublin this is used as a standard for hanging at eye level, although with smaller work (under 80cm) the centre height is often raised towards 150cm.

The methodology to hang is quite easy.

You measure the height of the work. Divide by 2. Add your centre height that you have decided for the room (lets say 142cm). Take away the top height down to your hanging system (D-rings, stretcher frame or string for framed work) and this total height from the floor is your line to sprit level a line to guide two screws into your wall (only one in the middle if it is for a string).

If you do this for both works, they will have the same centre height whichever wall you hang them on in your room, assuming your floor is level. If you keep the same centre height throughout your room, it will generally look better.

I hope this helps.

optimum viewing distance?

I like 5 cm for details....

Gautama said:

Does the same apply to television screens? For example, for someone with a 32 inch plasma television screen, the optimum viewing distance is 44.8 inches?

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Different rules apply to video. For widescreen HD, the ideal distance is between 1.5 and 3 times the diagonal size of the screen. With SD, there's less detail, so you can be further away, up to 5 times the diagonal measurement.
Leo

Great post alspants.
This is such a great website

thanks all.

rmelly said:

thanks all.

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now after all this we fully expect to be invited round for the grand opening so we can have an art discussion on the pieces themselves

Hi, following on from the helpful advice previously given, I have another related question:

I want to hang a picture on a chimney breast (width 69") but the fireplace beneath (width 36") isn't centered, it's off a bit to the left (distance from edges of fireplace to edge of chimney breast is 14" to the left, 19" to the right). Picture width is 25" to 28" if it matters.

So the question is should I centre the picture on the chimney breast or the fireplace?

I was thinking centre to the chimney breast, someone else says to the fireplace (ignoring the chimney breast), starting to think I'm wrong.

If it's your house it's your rules that count.