Paintings for the Living Room: Famous Works That Fit Above a Sofa

The room where a painting earns its place: big enough to anchor the sofa wall and interesting enough to look at every day.

The living room is where a single large painting does the most work. Above a sofa or fireplace it needs real scale, about two thirds of the furniture's width, so the famous works that suit it are landscapes, harbors, gardens and city views painted to be seen from across a room. Palettes that lean warm or neutral sit well with wood, linen and leather, and a painting with one strong accent color gives you a cue for cushions and a rug. Because guests see this wall first, we keep the quiet classics here: scenes with air and distance, early abstract compositions, interiors flooded with light. Hang the center at about 58 in (147 cm) from the floor, or 8 in (20 cm) above the sofa back, whichever is lower.

Paris Street; Rainy Day, Gustave Caillebotte 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.

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Showing 1 to 48 of 954 paintings

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

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

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

Frederic Edwin Church Heart of the Andes, 1859 The Met

View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, Thomas Cole, 1836, oil on canvas

Thomas Cole View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836 The Met

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

Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Harvesters, 1565 The Met

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

Vincent van Gogh Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889 The Met

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

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

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

Large marine landscape of boats on rough waves, storm clouds.

Joseph Mallord William Turner Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish, 1837–38 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

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

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

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 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

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

Camille Corot Hagar in the Wilderness, 1835 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

Young Ladies of the Village, Gustave Courbet, 1851–52, oil on canvas

Gustave Courbet Young Ladies of the Village, 1851–52 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

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

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

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

John Henry Twachtman Icebound, c. 1889 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

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

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

John Frederick Kensett Lake George, 1869 The Met

The Horse Fair, Rosa Bonheur, 1852–55, oil on canvas

Rosa Bonheur The Horse Fair, 1852–55 The Met

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

Jacob van Ruisdael Wheat Fields, ca. 1670 The Met

Papers with Japanese text hang from a tree bearing red and gold leaves.

Tosa Mitsuoki Autumn Maples with Poem Slips, c. 1675 Art Institute of Chicago

Long scroll ink painting depicting people with their animals and belongings crossing a river.

Unknown artist Yang Pu Moving His Family, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) 元朝 Art Institute of Chicago

The Dutton Family in the Drawing Room of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire, Johann Zoffany, c. 1772, oil on canvas

Johann Zoffany The Dutton Family in the Drawing Room of Sherborne Park, Gloucestershire, c. 1772 Cleveland Museum of Art

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

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

At the Seaside, William Merritt Chase, ca. 1892, oil on canvas

William Merritt Chase At the Seaside, ca. 1892 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

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

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

Collections for the living room

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Bedroom 702 shared
Guest Room 606 shared
Bathroom 332 shared
Home Office 289 shared

Collections for the living room

Guides

Rooms that share paintings