How to Create a Collected Gallery Wall -

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Creating a gallery wall that feels collected and effortless, often takes a lot of effort! After hanging multiple gallery walls, I have come up with a formula that works for me every time. And while there are no real rules, these are my 5 tips for how to create a collected gallery wall.

5 Tips For Creating a Collected Gallery Wall

1. Mix Mediums

The term “medium” in art refers to the materials used to make art (such as clay, paint, pencil, etc.) and can also refer to different artistic techniques such as sculpture, printmaking, watercolor, etc.

When creating a collected gallery wall, choosing pieces of art that are different mediums, such as oil paintings, water colours, photographs, or sketches, will add interest to the gallery.

Swan, Landscape “ETENDUE VI”, “Three Dancers in an Exercise Hall”

2. Frame Finishes

I try to use 2-3 different frame finishes in my galleries. My favourite is a mix of wood, brass, and always black!

Bonus tip: mix frames with mats and frames without! If you have a print that is feeling too heavy in the gallery, adding a white mat can brighten it up.

3. Balance colours diagonally

I think this may be the one thing that can make or break a gallery wall. While the goal is to feel “collected” it also needs to feel balanced. You need to balance both colours and light and dark. For example, you shouldn’t put all of the prints with green on one side. And you shouldn’t put all the prints with black in one area. To keep certain areas or sides from feeling too bright or too heavy you need to disperse the colours/light/dark throughout the gallery.

The best way I have found to do this is to imagine a square. If we use white and black as an example – the top right corner and bottom left corner would be prints with black and the top left corner and bottom. Here is a photo of the gallery wall in our bathroom. I put the prints with green across from each other diagonally, and the prints with white mattes on the other corners. This created a balanced gallery.

4. Add unexpected elements

If you look closely at a lot of my gallery walls, you will see: a framed rug remnant, a felt pennant, an oval frame etc. These little unexpected elements give your gallery wall a unique feel and keep the eye moving around.

Mallard Duck, Bossen, Custom Ultrasound Print, Custom Name Pennant

5. Be creative with shape

Gallery walls don’t have to be symmetrical or lined up, in fact, a truly collected gallery is usually the opposite. If you have a long sideboard, stretch your gallery the entire length. If you have a curved headboard, follow the curves of the bed. Want to hide your TV? Wrap you gallery wall around the TV. Again, get creative with it!

Hillside, Boy Riding Horse, Flowers in a Crystal Vase, The Dancing Class

As I said before, these are NOT strict rules for how to create a collected gallery wall. But by following these tips myself, I have found it makes putting together a gallery wall much more intuitive. I also highly suggest laying your pieces out on the ground and playing around. Swap pieces around and adjust the configuration until it feels balanced!