Better at Home

Here’s a phenomenon that I wish I knew how to quantify.   As good as we think artworks look in the gallery, when you get them home and hang them, they look exponentially better.  It’s remarkable.  Something about the textured layers of the setting (your wall color, wallpaper, rugs, furniture, other artworks) makes a new piece truly shine.  

Many people worry about this when they come into the gallery.  That if they don’t have the same spare setting or ‘perfect’ lighting at home, the piece they’re admiring won’t look as good.

When in fact, the opposite is true.  Again and again, we see it: the artwork looks so much better once you get it home. 

But how much better, exactly?  Maybe the statisticians out there can tell me.  If I knew how to quantify it, I could tell somebody, “This piece will look 3,000 times better on your wall, guaranteed.” 

Would that make it easier to decide to buy it? 

You tell me. 

Good in the gallery, better at home.  Here are some examples: