Tips on Hanging Artwork in Salon-Style Gallery Cluster Walls

by Julia Millay Walsh 4

If you're short on large-scale, statement-making artwork, creating a salon-style cluster wall is a clever way to give petite pieces more presence. There's no trick to it other than hanging your favorites. As Jonathan Adler pointed out in our interview, "If each object within your salon wall is really fab and is a reflection of you and is something that you love, you can hang it all in a bold, salon-style, and it will work."

Even though salon-style walls are generally a foolproof solution, you can run into trouble if you have super high ceilings or expanses of empty wall space. So I love this trick in the home of Swedish designer and illustrator Camilla Lundsten, seen in Swedish ELLE Interiör. By using black paint to frame the artwork cluster, Camilla made her small art pieces a can't-miss focal point and ensured that they didn't appear to just be floating within her big white wall. The baroque-style shape that she painted is also much easier on the eyes and "transitional" than a sharp, modern rectangular shape.

Would you try this in your home?

Photo by Stellan Herner