Paintings Above a Desk

Quiet subjects at eye level for the chair, not the door.

40 to 45 in (100 to 115 cm) wide for a 60 in (152 cm) desk.
Center it at about 58 in (147 cm) from the floor.
Choose matte glazing if a window faces it.

These paintings are the right shape for the spot (landscape or square) and big enough in real life to hold the wall when printed at that width.

Work out your exact size with the art size calculator

The Basket of Apples, Paul Cézanne 16 × 20 in landscape print (41 × 51 cm), centered 47¼ in from the floor, 8 in above the desk. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

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Showing 1 to 48 of 1,111 paintings that fit

Painting of a basket of green and red-yellow apples spilling over into a white cloth placed on a wooden table, with a dark green bottle and a plate of pale biscuits behind.

Paul Cézanne The Basket of Apples, c. 1893 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting composed of short, dense brushstrokes depicts two domed stacks of wheat that cast long shadows on a field. The angled light indicates either a rising or setting sun.

Claude Monet Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890–91 Art Institute of Chicago

Twilight in the Wilderness, Frederic Edwin Church, 1860, oil on canvas

Frederic Edwin Church Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860 Cleveland Museum of Art

The Harvesters, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565, oil on oak

Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Harvesters, 1565 The Met

Irises, Vincent van Gogh, 1890, oil on canvas

Vincent van Gogh Irises, 1890 The Met

Wheat Field with Cypresses, Vincent van Gogh, 1889, oil on canvas

Vincent van Gogh Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889 The Met

Painting of bedroom, blue walls, green window, tan bed, red bedding.

Vincent van Gogh The Bedroom, 1889 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of a pond seen up close spotted with thickly painted pink and white water lilies and a shadow across the top third of the picture.

Claude Monet Water Lilies, 1906 Art Institute of Chicago

The Annunciation, Sandro Botticelli, ca. 1490, tempera and gold on wood

Sandro Botticelli The Annunciation, ca. 1490 The Met

Mount Sainte-Victoire, Paul Cézanne, c. 1904, oil on fabric

Paul Cézanne Mount Sainte-Victoire, c. 1904 Cleveland Museum of Art

Soap Bubbles, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, ca. 1733–34, oil on canvas

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin Soap Bubbles, ca. 1733–34 The Met

We look across an expanse of a flat, grassy lawn at the towering spire of a stone church outlined against billowing clouds in this horizontal landscape painting.

John Constable Salisbury Cathedral from Lower Marsh Close, 1820 National Gallery of Art

We hover over a flax-yellow body of water lined with ships to our left and right, which are silhouetted against a moonlit, cloud-veiled sky in this horizontal landscape painting.

Joseph Mallord William Turner Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, 1835 National Gallery of Art

To our left, a young woman sits facing us on a low stone wall at the base of the vertical, black bars of an iron fence and a young girl stands facing away from us to our right in this horizontal painting. Both have pale skin.

Édouard Manet The Railway, 1873 National Gallery of Art

Close to us, a young man and three boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea in this horizontal painting.

Winslow Homer Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), 1873-1876 National Gallery of Art

We look slightly down into a lime-green and white rowboat carrying a woman holding a baby and a man in this nearly square painting. The man wears midnight-blue shoes, pants, jacket, and soft, floppy cap.

Mary Cassatt The Boating Party, 1893/1894 National Gallery of Art

A woman and two children, all with pale skin and flushed cheeks, sit together in a landscape in this round painting. The woman takes up most of the composition as she sits with her right leg, to our left, tucked under her body.

Raphael The Alba Madonna, c. 1510 National Gallery of Art

Impressionist painting of woman wearing green dress trying on hats.

Edgar Degas The Millinery Shop, 1879-86 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of a beach on a cloudy day with several sailboats on the water, a few rowboats on the shore, and two groupings of people on the sand.

Claude Monet The Beach at Sainte-Adresse, 1867 Art Institute of Chicago

Impressionist sea landscape, tan houses, blue ocean, distant mountains.

Paul Cézanne The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque, c. 1885 Art Institute of Chicago

Loosely painted image of an open-air train station. On the right, a parked train gives off an enormous plumb of white smoke, making the scene look as though it were full of clouds.

Claude Monet Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of four women with blue shawls walking near red fence.

Paul Gauguin Arlésiennes (Mistral), 1888 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of two fishermen in small wooden boat on rocky seas.

Winslow Homer The Herring Net, 1885 Art Institute of Chicago

View of Delphi with a Procession, Claude Lorrain, 1673, oil on canvas

Claude Lorrain View of Delphi with a Procession, 1673 Art Institute of Chicago

Large English country landscape painting, farmers with horses, green trees.

John Constable Stoke-by-Nayland, 1836 Art Institute of Chicago

A sparsely painted waterside scene in dark tones with minimal ghostly shapes suggesting ships, yellow glitches of paint for light reflections, and the orb of an orange moon overhead.

James McNeill Whistler Nocturne: Blue and Gold—Southampton Water, 1872 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of Greek landscape, classical architecture, yellow, red robed man reading.

Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Saint John on Patmos, 1640 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting, heavy in tones of blue-green and burnt orange, depicting a bar scene at night. The men wear top hats and many are bearded; the women are dressed in voluminous gowns and decorative hats.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec At the Moulin Rouge, 1892–95 Art Institute of Chicago

Ecuadorian landscape with people, palm trees, waterfall, and volcano in background.

Frederic Edwin Church View of Cotopaxi, 1857 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of a vast autumn scene with two very small figures in Indigenous clothing standing on a cliff overlooking a massive waterfall in the distance.

Thomas Cole Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830 Art Institute of Chicago

The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull), Thomas Eakins, 1871, oil on canvas

Thomas Eakins The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull), 1871 The Met

The Gulf Stream, Winslow Homer, 1899; reworked by 1906, oil on canvas

Winslow Homer The Gulf Stream, 1899; reworked by 1906 The Met

The Veteran in a New Field, Winslow Homer, 1865, oil on canvas

Winslow Homer The Veteran in a New Field, 1865 The Met

Piazza San Marco, Canaletto, late 1720s, oil on canvas

Canaletto Piazza San Marco, late 1720s The Met

The Musicians, Caravaggio, 1597, oil on canvas

Caravaggio The Musicians, 1597 The Met

Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses, Paul Cézanne, ca. 1890, oil on canvas

Paul Cézanne Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses, ca. 1890 The Met

A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers (Madame Paul Valpinçon?), Edgar Degas, 1865, oil on canvas

Edgar Degas A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers (Madame Paul Valpinçon?), 1865 The Met

Haystacks: Autumn, Jean-François Millet, ca. 1874, oil on canvas

Jean-François Millet Haystacks: Autumn, ca. 1874 The Met

Jalais Hill, Pontoise, Camille Pissarro, 1867, oil on canvas

Camille Pissarro Jalais Hill, Pontoise, 1867 The Met

Whalers, Joseph Mallord William Turner, ca. 1845, oil on canvas

Joseph Mallord William Turner Whalers, ca. 1845 The Met

Trees and Houses Near the Jas de Bouffan, Paul Cézanne, 1885–86, oil on canvas

Paul Cézanne Trees and Houses Near the Jas de Bouffan, 1885–86 The Met

Painting of four figures in blue, red, brown dresses playing croquet.

Winslow Homer Croquet Scene, 1866 Art Institute of Chicago

Two Men Contemplating the Moon, Caspar David Friedrich, ca. 1825–30, oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich Two Men Contemplating the Moon, ca. 1825–30 The Met

The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), Vincent van Gogh, 1889, oil on fabric

Vincent van Gogh The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889 Cleveland Museum of Art

Boating, Édouard Manet, 1874, oil on canvas

Édouard Manet Boating, 1874 The Met

The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet, Claude Lorrain, ca. 1643, oil on canvas

Claude Lorrain The Trojan Women Setting Fire to Their Fleet, ca. 1643 The Met

Impressionist painting of seated man, girl with brown, black hues.

Edgar Degas Henri Degas and His Niece Lucie Degas (The Artist's Uncle and Cousin), 1875–76 Art Institute of Chicago

The Holy Family on the Steps, Nicolas Poussin, 1648, oil on canvas

Nicolas Poussin The Holy Family on the Steps, 1648 Cleveland Museum of Art

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