gallery walls the french way

Gallery walls are a thing now. Some liken them to updated versions of our mothers’ family portrait walls, composed of grade school photos of kids with missing teeth, with a few old sepia toned photos thrown in for good measure (of ancestors whose identities we’ve never learned.)  However, the gallery style display of art groupings has been around for hundreds of years. Many attribute the French for starting this trend – in 1737 that is. It was then that art exhibits were first opened to public viewing at the French Salon. They took place in Paris in a room in the Louvre called the Salon Carré, or square room. 

Shockingly, I wasn’t alive in 1737, but I too first learned the trend of hanging salon-style art directly from the French – my sweet mother in law. Ever since I have known her, she has always showcased much of her collections and art in salon-style groupings. One of my favorites is her collection of miniatures – tiny paintings of royals on ivory, no bigger than 3″ x 4″. 

The gallery wall I recently created in my new home is not nearly this formal, nor did I use any strategical planning when designing it. There are lots of articles with guidance on planning and hanging a pleasing gallery wall, such as this one by momtastic.com.  I already had a vision for mine, so I didn’t need extensive pre-planning. However, I did play around with arrangements with my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE iPhone app – Mark on Call. 

There aren’t many rules when it comes to creating a gallery wall, but selecting art with a common theme lends some harmony to the display. For example, a grouping of your children’s framed art. Also if you are hanging a collection of unrelated photos and art, framing them all alike creates an impactful statement. Finally, I’m not a huge fan of filling a wall with Lifetouch school portraits of my kids, but photographs can make a statement wall if they are artistically done, such as all black & whites. 

Now, having given my two-cents worth of expertise on salon-style art, I admit I didn’t follow many of my own suggestions when creating my recent wall. My house is narrow and tall (4 stories) built on a small city lot. The ground floor houses a garage and a small foyer with a long, narrow hallway. Too narrow for furniture, so I decided to fill one wall with sentimental pieces of art (miscellaneous pieces for which I’ve not yet found a home.)  But first, my inspiration…