Bedroom Paintings: Calm Famous Works for Above the Bed

Calm first: paintings with low contrast, soft color and a horizon your eye can rest on.

A bedroom painting is the last thing you see at night and the first thing in the morning, so the works here are chosen for calm. Soft landscapes, water, evening skies, sleeping figures and quiet interiors, in muted or cool palettes, lower the visual volume of the room. Horizontal formats sit naturally above a headboard: for a queen bed look for a print 40 to 45 in (100 to 115 cm) wide, for a king 51 to 57 in (130 to 145 cm). We leave out high-saturation reds, crowds and anything with drama in it. A pair of smaller works can stand in for one large one, hung as a single block with 2 to 3 in between them.

Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), Claude Monet 24 × 40 in landscape print (61 × 102 cm), centered 69¼ in from the floor, 8 in above the headboard. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

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Showing 1 to 48 of 805 paintings

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

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

Vincent van Gogh Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889 The Met

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

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

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

Frederic Edwin Church View of Cotopaxi, 1857 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

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

Camille Pissarro Jalais Hill, Pontoise, 1867 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

Dark moody painting of crumbling castle tower and walls amidst river and forest.

Jacob van Ruisdael Landscape with the Ruins of the Castle of Egmond, 1650–55 Art Institute of Chicago

Winter landscape painting with rocky stream lined by orange leafed trees.

John Henry Twachtman Icebound, c. 1889 Art Institute of Chicago

Wheat Fields, Jacob van Ruisdael, ca. 1670, oil on canvas

Jacob van Ruisdael Wheat Fields, ca. 1670 The Met

Painting of a cabin set below a dark blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Behind it is a field of many small white dots. In front, a dark-skinned woman sits and a dark-skinned child plays among roaming chickens and dogs in a fenced-in yard.

Horace Pippin Cabin in the Cotton, c. 1931–37 Art Institute of Chicago

The Penitence of Saint Jerome, Joachim Patinir, ca. 1515, oil on wood

Joachim Patinir The Penitence of Saint Jerome, ca. 1515 The Met

Lake George, John Frederick Kensett, 1869, oil on canvas

John Frederick Kensett Lake George, 1869 The Met

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

Vincent van Gogh The Bedroom, 1889 Art Institute of Chicago

Landscape painting featuring a wavy tree tree in the foreground and a watermill with a red roof adjacent to a river at right. Colors are subdued earth tones, the foliage a dark green and the river a muddy brown.

Meindert Hobbema The Watermill with the Great Red Roof, c. 1665 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

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

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

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

Winslow Homer Croquet Scene, 1866 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of a crowd of well-dressed light-skinned people in an open, snowy field surrounded by large rolling hills.

George Bellows Love of Winter, 1914 Art Institute of Chicago

Dozens of figures in a brown field filled with discarded corn silks form two rows and sit across from each other husking corn, a farm in the background.

Eastman Johnson Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket, 1876 Art Institute of Chicago

Virgil's Tomb by Moonlight, with Silius Italicus Declaiming, Joseph Wright of Derby, 1779, oil on canvas

Joseph Wright of Derby Virgil's Tomb by Moonlight, with Silius Italicus Declaiming, 1779 The Met

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

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

Life-size painting of an urban scene in Paris.

Gustave Caillebotte Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877 Art Institute of Chicago

Large painting of people in a crowded park, brushstrokes are dots.

Georges Seurat A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884, 1884–86, border added 1888–89 Art Institute of Chicago

Panoramic View of the Alps, Les Dents du Midi, Gustave Courbet, 1877, oil on fabric

Gustave Courbet Panoramic View of the Alps, Les Dents du Midi, 1877 Cleveland Museum of Art

The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, Albert Bierstadt, 1863, oil on canvas

Albert Bierstadt The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, 1863 The Met

Water Lilies (Agapanthus), Claude Monet, c. 1915–26, oil on canvas

Claude Monet Water Lilies (Agapanthus), c. 1915–26 Cleveland Museum of Art

Large painting of soldier asleep outdoors surrounded by two women and a cupid.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Armida Encounters the Sleeping Rinaldo, c. 1742–45 Art Institute of Chicago

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

Sandro Botticelli The Annunciation, ca. 1490 The Met

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

Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun, Nicolas Poussin, 1658, oil on canvas

Nicolas Poussin Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun, 1658 The Met

Hagar in the Wilderness, Camille Corot, 1835, oil on canvas

Camille Corot Hagar in the Wilderness, 1835 The Met

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

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

Impressionist painting of two girls on balcony, bright flower hat, knitting basket.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881 Art Institute of Chicago

View of Toledo, El Greco, ca. 1599–1600, oil on canvas

El Greco View of Toledo, ca. 1599–1600 The Met

Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), Paul Gauguin, 1891, oil on canvas

Paul Gauguin Ia Orana Maria (Hail Mary), 1891 The Met

Loosely painted scene of a brown-haired girl in her nightgown standing in a dark room, gazing out a window into a brighter night, her face unseen and her hand drawing back the pale curtain.

Edvard Munch The Girl by the Window, 1893 Art Institute of Chicago

Opulently dressed light-skinned man and woman drink at a small table. A mirror behind them reflects a crowd. Her blue dress and dark hat dominate.

William Glackens At Mouquin's, 1905 Art Institute of Chicago

Early Morning, Tarpon Springs, George Inness, 1892, oil on canvas

George Inness Early Morning, Tarpon Springs, 1892 Art Institute of Chicago

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Gerard David, ca. 1512–15, oil on wood

Gerard David The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, ca. 1512–15 The Met

Heart of the Andes, Frederic Edwin Church, 1859, oil on canvas

Frederic Edwin Church Heart of the Andes, 1859 The Met

Collections for the bedroom

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Living Room 702 shared
Guest Room 552 shared
Bathroom 273 shared
Dining Room 195 shared

Collections for the bedroom

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Rooms that share paintings