I’ve been curating little collections of high resolution open source artwork for the past couple weeks.
Now I’m putting them pieces together to create well-balanced gallery walls with only using completely free printable artwork.
I found all of these images by searching Creative Commons for “Public Domain Artworks”, browse the Met for “Open Access”, the National Gallery of Art, and The Rijks Museum and strongly encourage taking a deep dive in their galleries if you’re an art lover like myself.
THE FREE SPIRIT
This gallery wall arrangement is the loosest out of any I’m sharing. Which also makes it the most challenging to pull off, but with a little bit of planning you’ll be hanging an eclectic gallery wall like a pro! The key in making this arrangement work is maintaining a roughly equal distance between each frame and focusing on the center pieces as the focal point.
THE EQUAL GRID
This arrangement is relatively simple to pull off with (3) 16×20 frames and (3) 11×14. They are each centered vertically and then hung with equal space from the vertical and horizontal edges. With each piece being matted the colors of the artwork matters a little bit less than other arrangements because the weight of each artwork will be grounded by the photo mat.
STRAIGHT DOWN THE LINE
This arrangement is configured from the center line. I like to try to make the center line space the same as any horizontal space and configure the frames so there is a taller piece in the center and smaller frames out on the side. It’s a cascading effect that helps this collection feel well-rounded and intentional.
