How to Choose the Right Size for a Custom Painting

The most common mistake people make when commissioning a painting is choosing the wrong size.

Not too large — almost nobody does that. Almost universally, first-time buyers choose too small. A painting that would have been powerful at 80×100 cm becomes invisible at 40×50 cm. A canvas that could have stopped a room in its tracks ends up looking like an afterthought.

Size is not just a practical decision. It is an aesthetic and emotional one. The scale of a painting determines how you encounter it — whether it asks you to lean in or invites you to stand back, whether it whispers or speaks, whether it fills your peripheral vision when you sit in a chair or disappears when you enter from the door.

Here is how to think about it properly.

Start With the Wall, Not the Painting

Before you think about the painting at all, measure the wall. The painting will live in relationship to that space. A general principle: a painting should occupy approximately 60–75% of the width of the wall or the furniture it sits above. On a 2-metre wall, that suggests a canvas of 120–150 cm wide. Above a 180 cm sofa, a painting or grouping of paintings should span approximately 110–135 cm.

These are not rules. They are starting points. But they prevent the most common error, which is choosing a canvas that the wall — and the room — simply swallows.

The Relationship Between Scale and Presence

Small paintings reward closeness. They ask you to approach. They work beautifully in intimate spaces — a study, a bedroom, a reading corner — where you will be near them regularly and have time to look.

Large paintings are felt before they are seen. They register in the body as much as in the eye. They work in living rooms, entrance halls, and open-plan spaces where the painting needs to hold its own against architecture and distance.

When I ask commission clients about their space, one of the most useful questions is: Where will you be when you look at this painting most?

If you will be sitting on a sofa 3 metres away, the painting needs to be large enough to read from that distance. If you will be standing close, looking at it before bed each night, an intimate scale can carry the full emotional weight.

Commission Size Ranges and What They’re For

Small originals (40×50 cm to 60×80 cm) — from CHF 1,200
Intimate, personal works. Ideal for bedrooms, studies, reading rooms, or smaller apartments. These paintings reward proximity and sustained looking. They are not statement pieces — they are companions.

Medium originals (70×90 cm to 80×100 cm) — from CHF 2,500
The most versatile scale. Large enough to hold a wall without dominating a room, small enough to work in residential spaces without architectural support. These are the commissions that tend to define a room rather than fill it.

Large originals (100×120 cm to 100×150 cm) — from CHF 4,000
Statement works. Designed for principal living spaces, generous walls, or anywhere a painting needs to anchor a room. At this scale, the work becomes an architectural presence — you feel it when you enter.

Extra-large and bespoke formats — from CHF 6,000
For significant spaces — entrance halls, double-height walls, commercial interiors, or private collectors with specific architectural needs. These are made to measure, in every sense.

The Orientation Question: Horizontal or Vertical?

Landscape paintings are traditionally horizontal — they mirror the way the eye moves across a panorama. But the Matterhorn, for example, is a vertical subject. Its height, its presence as a peak, is part of its power. A vertical or square format honours that.

When we talk through a commission, we discuss orientation as part of the initial vision consultation. The subject often dictates it: a wide valley view wants a horizontal canvas; a single peak at close range works in portrait or square format; an abstract atmospheric work can succeed in any orientation.

Don’t assume landscape format for a landscape painting. Ask what the subject needs.

How to Test Before You Commit

A practical trick: cut out a sheet of paper or cardboard to your intended canvas dimensions and tape it to the wall. Live with it for a day. See how it reads when you enter the room, when you’re sitting on the sofa, when the light changes.

You will often discover, within hours, that your instinct was right — or that you need to go larger. Many clients who do this exercise come back and ask me to size up. Almost none ask me to size down.

What I Recommend for First-Time Commissioners

If you are commissioning an original painting for the first time and you are uncertain about size, my honest recommendation is to go one size category larger than your instinct.

The most common feedback I receive is not “this feels too big.” It is “I wish I had gone larger.” A painting that fills a wall with authority and presence will reward you daily. One that retreats into it will quietly disappoint.

If you are genuinely unsure, tell me about the space — the wall dimensions, the furniture, the natural light, the distance from which you’ll most often look — and I will give you an honest recommendation as part of the initial consultation.

Begin Your Commission

Every commission begins with a conversation about the work — and the space it will live in.

Commission an Original Painting →

Share the details of your space and your vision, and we will find the scale that makes the painting right.