Most decorators traditionally recommend a minimalist décor
for many spaces, particularly small spaces such as apartments and guest
houses. Unfortunately, many people
believe that this means that the walls should be kept completely bare for a
minimalist décor to work. Aren't pictures too flashy for a minimalist
décor?
Art
Prints: Perfect Complement to a Minimalist Decor
In a word: no, pictures are not too flashy to use with a
minimalist décor. In a few more words: art
prints
are not too flashy for a minimalist décor, as long as you select your prints
carefully. In fact, in rooms with minimalist decor, art
prints
add character and highlight the fact that the decor really is minimalist and not
just neglected.
The trick with choosing art
prints
carefully is just to pick one print, or pick a few prints
on a highly related subject or in a similar style, preferably all by the same
artist. In a room with minimalist décor, the prints
will easily get more attention than anything else in the room, so you want to be
careful that the prints
do not conflict with each other. An obvious example: if you really like
Monet's paintings of water
lilies, you could get several prints
each of a different Monet
painting of water
lilies.
There is a special concern if your décor is not just
minimalist but strikingly modernist (for instance, lots of simple furniture with
clear angles or curves rather than carved woodwork). In a room with a
particularly modernist décor,
prints
that are from an earlier era might seem out of place. Go with
prints
that were created more or less in the era in which your furniture was designed,
or in which your furniture's design was most popular.
Obviously, there is a lot of room for personal judgment as to
what goes with what, since modernist anything always was designed not to look as
though it belonged to a particular period of time. It can be even more
confusing if your modernist-looking furniture was really just designed to look
spare in a general way rather than to hark to a particular school of
design. In those cases, just try to go for something that looks like it
matches, sticking to prints
of artworks that are modern but that are not immediately recognizable as
belonging to a specific decade.
If your furniture leans toward the 1950s and 60s style of
modernism (the kind of playful curves that would be at home in a room with a
sunburst clock on the wall), try prints
of the work of a period artist such as Jackson Pollack. If your décor's
modernism leans toward the seventies or eighties (e.g., glass-topped coffee
tables and very spare design, you might be better off with Jasper Johns than
Jackson Pollack.
Choosing Art
Prints
for Rooms with Multiple Colors
Minimal does not necessarily mean
subdued. Just look at the vibrant paintings of modern
artist Mondrian, such as "Broadway Boogie Woogie", composed entirely of
interlocking rectangles, square, triangles, and circles. If you'd like
to keep your décor simple even with a striking color scheme, art
prints
can actually help. Here's why:
When the furnishings in a room attract
attention art
prints
make sure the walls provide visual interest, too, so the eye is not pulled
relentlessly downward toward the furniture or rugs. Of course, you have
to be careful not to give people
a headache. As a rule of thumb, the more riotous the play of
colors on the ground, the more orderly the play of colors on the walls should
be. If the vibrant colors of your furnishings tend to swirl together,
lend the room calm with artwork
that takes those colors and presents them in neat lines and blocks.
Art prints make it clear that your colorful
décor is a well-rhymed composition, not just a loud burst of color.
Visitors to your pad who see a blue couch, red end tables, and yellow lamps
might well wonder what you were thinking--until they see a print of "Broadway
Boogie Woogie," or other artwork
that shows how these disparate colors really do belong
together.
In the end, there is beauty in the simplicity
of a room with a minimalist interior design, and there is beauty in the art
that takes the same simple approach. If you keep that fact in mind when
choosing artwork for your minimalist room, you can make sure your décor is
more than minimally beautiful.
About the author: Joel Walsh has written a buying guide for
art
prints
at: oil paintings : http://www.a1-paintings.com
