Painting of centaur with harp, in water, surrounded by mermaids and mermen.

In the Sea

Arnold Böcklin (Swiss, 1827–1901)

Date: 1883
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 34 × 45¼ in (86.5 × 115 cm)
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, accession 1990.443. See the museum’s record
Credit: Joseph Winterbotham Collection

Public domain image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago (CC0).

Palette

Closest wall colors:

Hang it

Pick the furniture and a print size to see it to scale on your wall.

Where Print size

Print: 36 × 48 in, filling the paper (trims 0.3 % of the picture)
Center: 61¼ in (156 cm) from the floor
Above the sofa: 8 in (20 cm) from the sofa to the frame
Ideal width: 56 to 63 in over an 84 in sofa
Why this height: Centered at eye level, this frame would not sit 6 to 10 in above the sofa, so the 8 in gap sets the height.

36 × 48 in landscape print (91 × 122 cm), centered 61¼ in from the floor, 8 in above the sofa. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

Try it on your wall color

Default greige

Print it

Standard paper sizes that keep this painting’s proportions, the frames that fit them, and how sharp each one prints.

Paper	Filling the paper	Printed whole	Frame	Frame with a 2 in mat	Frame with a 3 in mat	Sharpness
5 × 7 in	trims 5.1 %	5 × 6½ in	5 × 7 in ready-made	9 × 11 in custom	11 × 13 in custom	285 dpi, crisp from a step back
8 × 10 in	trims 5.9 %	7½ × 10 in	8 × 10 in ready-made	12 × 14 in custom	14 × 16 in custom	188 dpi, crisp from a step back
11 × 14 in	trims 4.2 %	10½ × 14 in	11 × 14 in ready-made	15 × 18 in custom	17 × 20 in custom	137 dpi, soft up close
12 × 16 in	trims 0.3 %	12 × 16 in	12 × 16 in ready-made	16 × 20 in ready-made	18 × 22 in custom	125 dpi, soft up close
16 × 20 in	trims 5.9 %	15 × 20 in	16 × 20 in ready-made	20 × 24 in ready-made	22 × 26 in custom	94 dpi, soft up close
18 × 24 in	trims 0.3 %	18 × 24 in	18 × 24 in ready-made	22 × 28 in ready-made	24 × 30 in ready-made	83 dpi, soft up close
30 × 40 in	trims 0.3 %	30 × 40 in	30 × 40 in ready-made	34 × 44 in custom	36 × 46 in custom	50 dpi, soft up close
36 × 48 in	trims 0.3 %	36 × 47¾ in	36 × 48 in ready-made	40 × 52 in custom	42 × 54 in custom	41 dpi, soft up close

Sharpness is worked out from the largest file the museum offers. Above 300 dpi a print holds up at arm’s length; 150 dpi is plenty for a picture seen from across a sofa.

Download

Free for any use, including commercial: this image is public domain (CC0).

Thumbnail (WebP) 560 × 422 px from Room Paintings
Web image 843 × 635 px from Art Institute of Chicago
Print file 2,000 × 1,507 px from Art Institute of Chicago
The museum’s record of this painting Art Institute of Chicago

Public domain image courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago (CC0). You may print, share, change and sell it without asking. Read what that means on our image license page, and how to get a good result in how to print a public-domain painting.