14 Wall Art Ideas to Energize Your Home
A blank wall is rich with opportunity. From oversize paintings to salon-style displays to wall sculptures, there’s an endless number of ways to accentuate and add style to an empty surface with art. But an abundance of options can be daunting, so we’ve gathered a selection of rooms from the AD archives that feature striking wall-art ideas that can easily translate to any home, whether you’re showcasing floor-to-ceiling blue-chip works or creating a charming arrangement of family photographs. See how top collectors display prized pieces and discover ways to turn vintage objects into works of art.
Photo: Oberto Gili1/14A gallery at the top of the stairs in a Minnesota home designed by Michael S. Smith includes works by Vik Muniz, Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh, Raymond Pettibon, Sol LeWitt, and Mel Bochner; the light fixtures are by Charles Edwards.
Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna2/14In the living room of designer Allegra Hicks’s Naples, Italy, penthouse, large mandalas by Julia Condon are displayed with 1960s sofas upholstered in a Hicks fabric; a '70s Venini egg sculpture rests on a vintage Mies van der Rohe cocktail table by Knoll.
Photo: Douglas Friedman3/14A mask from Burkina Faso is displayed above a custom-made bed at stylist Carlos Mota’s Dominican Republic retreat. The 1930s wall hanging is by Elsa Gullberg, the lamps are circa-1970 American, and the carpet is Moroccan.
Photo: Jason Schmidt4/14The owners of a Connecticut estate decorated by India Mahdavi installed a Sol LeWitt wall drawing in the games barn, which also features an Ingo Maurer ceiling light.
Photo: Douglas Friedman5/14A wall-size painting by Khalil Rabah presides over the library in a London townhouse designed by François Catroux. A bespoke sofa joins armchairs upholstered in Le Manach fabrics; the Hervé Van der Straeten table lamps are from Alexandre Biaggi, and the bronze bust on the cocktail table is by Kehinde Wiley.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn6/14At the Long Island home of designers Vicente Wolf and Matthew Yee, framed photographs from Wolf’s collection—including images by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Edward Steichen, and André Kertész—line the shelves above the living room’s sectional sofa.
Photo: Björn Wallander7/14Architecture and design firm Ashe + Leandro devised this Martha’s Vineyard house for an art collector. Hanging in the great room are works by, from left, Howard Hodgkin, Sterling Ruby, Aaron Young, and Rashid Johnson; the bespoke ceiling lights were created in collaboration with the Urban Electric Co., the sofas and slipper chairs are by Christian Liaigre, and the striped pillows are by Ralph Lauren Home.
Photo: Scott Frances8/14A multipart artwork by Robin Rhode, at far right, is displayed in the game room of an Arizona home by architect Marwan Al-Sayed and designer Jan Showers. A Blatt Billiards pool table is set on a Stark carpet beneath a vintage Murano-glass chandelier.
Photo: Richard Powers9/14A deep-red Anish Kapoor sculpture greets visitors in the entrance hall of a Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, house designed by Charles Zana for a couple with a blue-chip contemporary-art collection. The text painting is by Richard Prince, and the console is by Eric Schmitt; a dramatic glass-bead sculpture by Jean-Michel Othoniel dangles from 30 feet above.
Photo: Björn Wallander10/14A mural by Eduardo Mendieta and Jay Bellicchi enlivens the staircase of real-estate developer Jorge Pérez's oceanside pied-à-terre in Hollywood, Florida.
Photo: Douglas Friedman11/14At a New York City penthouse decorated by Nicholas Kilner, a Ryan McGinley photograph dominates the guest room, where the furnishings include 1970s Nanda Vigo chairs and a Madeline Weinrib carpet.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig12/14An installation by Ranjani Shettar runs across the walls in the living room of a Long Island home devised by Christoff:Finio Architecture.
Photo: Tim Street-Porter13/14At Los Angeles–based design mavens Robert Willson and David Serrano's home in Mexico, a circa-1890 copy of the Charioteer of Delphi statue occupies a corner of a guest room painted in a Benjamin Moore blue; the ceiling is made of metal and wood beams over cement, the antique archery target is Belgian, and the prie-dieux in the foreground are clad in a vintage stripe.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn14/14Family photographs are hung salon style in the rear stairwell of an 1840s Brooklyn Heights rowhouse renovated by Baxt Ingui Architects and decorator Nick Olsen.
