Sizing an August Natterer Print for Your Living Room

The right size depends on wall width, viewing distance and how much visual weight a dense, visionary drawing can carry. Here is how to work it out with a tape measure and a few rules.

Auvrique Editorial · Fine Art Editions

The short answer

For most living rooms, an August Natterer print between 60 and 90 cm wide works best, with 70 by 90 cm the safest single choice. Hang it so the centre sits about 145 cm from the floor, and keep the print's width at roughly two thirds to three quarters of the furniture below it.

Start with the wall, not the artist

Measure the wall before you look at any catalogue. A print should occupy between half and two thirds of the width of the space it anchors, so a 180 cm sofa calls for something in the 90 to 120 cm range, while a bare stretch of wall between two doorways usually wants 60 cm or less. Natterer's drawings are dense and close grained, and they lose their detail when blown up past a certain point, so erring smaller is rarely a mistake.

Viewing distance matters as much as wall width. In a living room you typically sit 2.5 to 4 metres from the wall, and at that distance a 60 cm print reads as a deliberate object rather than a background. Anything under 40 cm will look lost above a sofa, though it can work on a side wall or in a pair. The ideal canvas print dimensions for a living room fall between 60 and 100 cm on the long edge for exactly this reason.

Match the format to the drawing

Natterer's compositions are mostly vertical and tightly packed, full of figures, architecture and text crowded into a single field. A vertical format suits them, and a tall print of 60 by 90 cm or 70 by 100 cm gives the eye somewhere to travel. A wide horizontal crop fights the character of the work and is best avoided unless the wall genuinely demands it.

Canvas and framed poster behave differently at size. Canvas absorbs the density and suits the larger end of the range, while a framed poster with a mount adds breathing room and lets a smaller print hold its own. If you are weighing the two, the difference between canvas and framed poster comes down to texture, weight and how the edges are finished how canvas and framed posters differ. For a single statement piece, a canvas edition such as Where the Trees are Dying at around 70 by 90 cm is a sensible benchmark the framed poster edition.

One practical caution. Natterer's imagery is intense, and at large scale it dominates a room rather than decorating it. In a space you use every evening, 60 to 75 cm wide is usually enough. Save the 100 cm format for a hallway or a wall that gets glanced at rather than lived with.

Quick sizing rules

Keep print width at two thirds of the furniture width below it
Hang so the centre of the print sits near 145 cm from the floor
Choose vertical formats, since the compositions run tall
Stay at or under 90 cm wide in rooms you sit in for long periods

Pairs, spacing and small rooms

Two smaller prints can outperform one large one. A pair of 45 by 60 cm works, hung with 8 to 12 cm between them, covers roughly the same wall as a single 90 cm piece and gives you two compositions instead of one stretched beyond its natural grain. Keep the pair at the same size. Mismatched scales read as an accident.

In a small living room, resist the urge to go big. A 50 by 70 cm print on a 240 cm wall leaves the wall room to breathe and keeps the drawing legible from a sofa two metres away prints in small apartments. If you want a second piece elsewhere, a compact canvas such as Art Forms in Nature 94 works on a narrow wall or above a shelf the Art Forms in Nature canvas. Whatever you order, check the listed dimensions include any frame or border before you commit canvas edition sizes and finishes.

A dense drawing wants a smaller wall than you think. Scale flatters empty rooms, not crowded pictures.

Situation	Print width	Notes
Above a standard sofa	70 to 90 cm	Two thirds of sofa width, centre at 145 cm
Narrow wall or alcove	40 to 60 cm	Vertical format suits the compositions
Large blank wall	90 to 110 cm	Canvas reads better than framed at this scale
Pair of prints	45 to 60 cm each	Same size, 8 to 12 cm apart

Suggested sizes by wall and furniture

Key takeaways

A width of 60 to 90 cm covers most living room walls without overwhelming the room.
Vertical formats fit Natterer's compositions better than wide horizontal crops.
Hang with the centre of the print about 145 cm from the floor.
Two matched smaller prints are often better than one oversized piece.

Related questions

Should I choose canvas or a framed poster for a Natterer print?

Canvas suits the larger sizes, from about 70 cm upward, because the texture softens the density of the drawing. A framed poster with a mount works better below 60 cm, giving a small print a defined edge. Both hang well; the choice is mostly about scale and surface.

How high should I hang a large print?

Aim for the centre of the print at roughly 145 cm from the floor, which is standard gallery height. Above a sofa, leave 20 to 25 cm between the furniture top and the bottom of the frame so the two read as one arrangement.

Can I hang a Natterer print opposite a window?

Avoid direct sunlight on any print, framed or canvas, since UV exposure fades pigments over years. A wall opposite a window is usually fine because it receives indirect light. Glazing with UV protection is worth considering in bright, south facing rooms.

From the Auvrique collection

Made to order · Every size