Home Office Paintings: Quiet Cityscapes and Studies to Work Beside

Structure and quiet: architecture, cityscapes, maps, and compositions that help you think.

An office painting should settle you rather than distract you, and it will often sit behind you on video calls, so it should also read well at a glance. Architecture, bridges, harbors, library and study interiors, and calm geometric or early abstract compositions give the wall order; muted palettes keep the room focused. Choose a medium size, 18×24 to 24×36 in (45×60 to 60×90 cm), centered above the desk at about 58 in (147 cm) from the floor, and avoid a glossy frame opposite the window.

Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), Claude Monet 24 × 40 in landscape print (61 × 102 cm), centered 51¼ in from the floor, 8 in above the desk. Drawn to scale on a 12 × 8 ft wall.

Try your wall color

Default greige

Showing 1 to 48 of 403 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

Impressionist painting of woman wearing green dress trying on hats.

Edgar Degas The Millinery Shop, 1879-86 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

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

John Constable Stoke-by-Nayland, 1836 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

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

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

Canaletto Piazza San Marco, late 1720s The Met

The Garden of Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo, Francesco Guardi, Late 1770s, oil on canvas

Francesco Guardi The Garden of Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo, Late 1770s Art Institute of Chicago

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

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

Hunting near Hartenfels Castle, Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1540, oil, originally on wood, transferred to masonite

Lucas Cranach the Elder Hunting near Hartenfels Castle, 1540 Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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

Dense and varied landscape with open fields, groves of bushy trees, and a row of thin conifers. A light-blue river tranverses the canvas, and a church steeple emerges from the trees at left of center.

Édouard Vuillard Landscape: Window Overlooking the Woods, 1899 Art Institute of Chicago

Small painting of woman in pink and black sitting on park bench.

William Merritt Chase A City Park, c. 1887 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

Portrait of a woman in white with a bonnet perched on an architectural feature painting something to her right, a spouting water fountain, greenery, and a an ornate, low white fence behind her.

John Singer Sargent The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy, 1907 Art Institute of Chicago

A pensive faced woman sits, slightly hunched, holding a book.

Camille Corot Interrupted Reading, c. 1870 Art Institute of Chicago

Saint Jerome as Scholar, El Greco, ca. 1610, oil on canvas

El Greco Saint Jerome as Scholar, ca. 1610 The Met

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

A light-skinned woman in a long, shiny white dress sits at a desk reading a book. The book is propped on a large red pillow. Her head is propped in her hand.

Thomas Lawrence Isabella Wolff, 1803–15 Art Institute of Chicago

St. George on white horse, piercing green, gold dragon

Bernat Martorell Saint George and the Dragon, 1434–35 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting of the Annunciation, dove flying above Mary with angel.

Jean Hey, The Annunciation, 1490–95 Art Institute of Chicago

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

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

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather, Claude Monet, 1900, oil on canvas

Claude Monet Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather, 1900 Art Institute of Chicago

Painting in short strokes of pale blue, green, white, yellow, and pink, of a fisherman in one of two small boats on a river, a tree-lined bank and a bridge in the background.

Vincent van Gogh Fishing in Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnières), 1887 Art Institute of Chicago

The Crystal Palace, Camille Pissarro, 1871, oil on canvas

Camille Pissarro The Crystal Palace, 1871 Art Institute of Chicago

Te raau rahi (The Big Tree), Paul Gauguin, 1891, oil on jute canvas

Paul Gauguin Te raau rahi (The Big Tree), 1891 Art Institute of Chicago

Peasants Bringing Home a Calf Born in the Fields, Jean-François Millet, 1864, oil on canvas

Jean-François Millet Peasants Bringing Home a Calf Born in the Fields, 1864 Art Institute of Chicago

Les Andelys, Côte d'Aval, Paul Signac, 1886, oil on canvas

Paul Signac Les Andelys, Côte d'Aval, 1886 Art Institute of Chicago

View of a village surrounded by hills, fields, and trees, shown from a vantage point above the scene. Subtly rolling hills recede into a bluish gray-ish sky punctuated by white clouds.

Paul Cézanne Auvers, Panoramic View, 1873–75 Art Institute of Chicago

Venice, Palazzo Dario, Claude Monet, 1908, oil on canvas

Claude Monet Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908 Art Institute of Chicago

Vétheuil, Claude Monet, 1901, oil on canvas

Claude Monet Vétheuil, 1901 Art Institute of Chicago

No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?), Paul Gauguin, 1896, oil on jute canvas

Paul Gauguin No te aha oe riri (Why Are You Angry?), 1896 Art Institute of Chicago

The Customs House at Varengeville, Claude Monet, 1897, oil on canvas

Claude Monet The Customs House at Varengeville, 1897 Art Institute of Chicago

Charing Cross Bridge, London, Claude Monet, 1901, oil on canvas

Claude Monet Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1901 Art Institute of Chicago

A lone wheat stack, in shadow, rests on a snow-covered field that is rendered in shades of white, blue, yellow, and purple. A house can be seen in the distance on the right against the blue hills beyond.

Claude Monet Stack of Wheat (Snow Effect, Overcast Day), 1890–91 Art Institute of Chicago

Claude Monet Vétheuil, 1901 Art Institute of Chicago

Houses of Parliament, London, Claude Monet, 1900–1, oil on canvas

Claude Monet Houses of Parliament, London, 1900–1 Art Institute of Chicago

The Seine at Port-Marly, Piles of Sand, Alfred Sisley, 1875, oil on canvas

Alfred Sisley The Seine at Port-Marly, Piles of Sand, 1875 Art Institute of Chicago

Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow, Camille Pissarro, 1879, oil on canvas

Camille Pissarro Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow, 1879 Art Institute of Chicago

Horizontal oil painting in shades of pale purple, pink, and light blue of a bridge composed of multiple linked archways over water, engulfed in hazy fog.

Claude Monet Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, 1903 Art Institute of Chicago

Watering Place at Marly, Alfred Sisley, 1875, oil on canvas

Alfred Sisley Watering Place at Marly, 1875 Art Institute of Chicago

An Alpine Scene, Gustave Courbet, 1874, oil on canvas

Gustave Courbet An Alpine Scene, 1874 Art Institute of Chicago

Collections for a home office

Guides

Living Room 289 shared
Bedroom 193 shared
Guest Room 117 shared
Bathroom 84 shared

Collections for a home office

Guides

Rooms that share paintings