What size should
office art be?

Width is judged against the wall — or against the furniture beneath it, if there is any. Above a 180cm (71 in) sofa, that means roughly 90–120cm (35–47 in) of artwork. A work that is too small does not read as restraint; it reads as something left behind on an empty wall.

Museums hang so that the centre of the work sits about 145–150cm (57–59 in) above the floor. Use that height wherever people stand — entrances, corridors, lift lobbies. Where people are seated for long stretches, drop the centre 10–15cm (4–6 in) so it meets the seated eye line.

A work looks best from roughly twice its diagonal measurement. A3 (diagonal ≈ 51cm / 20 in) wants about 1m; a 600mm square (diagonal ≈ 85cm / 33 in) wants about 1.7m; A1 (diagonal ≈ 103cm / 41 in) wants about 2m. If a desk or counter makes that distance impossible, a large work will feel like pressure rather than presence.

The work must not compete with the screen or whiteboard for attention. The side wall that people see on entering is the first candidate. One work shown properly does more here than an evenly spaced row of three.

Seen from 1.5–2m while seated, for an hour at a time. Oversized work becomes domineering. Hanging it on the wall behind your own side of the table — not facing your visitor — lets it work as background rather than as a statement being made at someone.

A room whose subject is set by a single work. What matters more than size is whether you can say why this one. A work with a context you can explain to a visitor earns its wall.

Seen close and daily. Several smaller works spread across zones hold the tone of a floor better than one large piece at the end of it. Because they hang within arm's reach, a material that does not shatter is the practical choice over glazed frames.

Long dwell time and a fixed seated eye line. Calmer works in a series give the eye somewhere to rest better than one high-contrast piece. Surfaces are cleaned often, so a wipeable face is a requirement rather than a preference.

In dye sublimation the image is bonded into the surface layer of an aluminum panel by heat rather than printed onto paper behind glazing. Nothing shatters if it comes off the wall, and there is no sheet of glass bouncing the ceiling lights back at a visitor.

The face can be dry-wiped, which suits clinics and rooms where food is served. No frame is required: a float bracket carries the panel a little off the wall, so there is no framing cost and no framing lead time between delivery and hanging.

Gloss holds colour more deeply but mirrors whatever faces it. If the wall looks straight at a window or a downlight, matte is the safer finish. Decide where the work will hang, and how light reaches it, before choosing the surface.

Choose reception or the executive office first. Fix its size and palette, then match the remaining rooms to it. Rooms chosen independently rarely add up to a coherent floor.

Note how far back a person can actually stand in each room. That single number rules out more sizes than the wall width does, and it is the one most often skipped.

Lead time, destination shipping, duties and made-to-order terms differ by country and are quoted per destination. Settle those in writing before an Offer, not after. Tax treatment of artwork also varies by jurisdiction — confirm it with your own tax advisor.

Seen from 1.5–2m while seated, A2 (420 × 594mm / 16.5 × 23.4 in) up to a 500mm (19.7 in) square is the easiest range to place. Check that it stays within one half to two thirds of the width of the wall or the furniture below it. Hanging it behind your own side of the table rather than facing the visitor lets it act as background to the conversation.

Judge by clearance rather than wall width. A work reads best from about twice its diagonal, so a reception where people can stand two metres back carries a 600mm square or an A1 well. Where a counter sits immediately in front of the wall, a large work turns into pressure.

Put the centre of the work about 145–150cm (57–59 in) above the floor — the standard museum height. Keep that height where people stand, and lower the centre by 10–15cm (4–6 in) in rooms where they are seated.

Pick the one room whose subject should be set by a single work — usually reception or the executive office — and settle that work's size and tone first. Match the other rooms to it. Deciding the sequence first also makes the total budget legible earlier, which tends to be what slows an internal approval down.

It depends entirely on your jurisdiction, the acquisition value and how the work is used. Hakusyaku MUSIAM does not provide tax advice; please confirm the treatment with your own tax advisor. A separate Japanese-language guide covers the rules that apply to buyers filing in Japan.