Art Deco wall art: the motifs, colours and rooms that suit it.

A short history of Art Deco

Art Deco wall art takes its language from a style that dominated design between the two world wars. The name comes from the great exhibition of decorative and industrial arts held in Paris in 1925, although the label itself only became common decades later. The style borrowed from many places at once: the geometric work of the Vienna workshops, the flat planes of Cubism, and the Egyptian ornament that became fashionable after Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1922.

What held it together was a love of luxury and modernity in the same breath: black lacquer, gilded bronze, marble, chrome and exotic woods, shaped into crisp, symmetrical forms. It appeared on ocean liners, cinemas, hotel lobbies and cocktail bars, and in posters that sold travel, fashion and the speed of the machine age. Even small objects, from clocks to cigarette cases, were given the same streamlined, stepped profile.

The motifs that make Art Deco recognisable

The sunburst is the signature. The Golden Sunburst builds one out of polished bronze-gold on black: stepped arches nest like a doorway around fluted columns, fans of rays spread up and out behind, and the whole form narrows to a sharp point below. Stepped shapes, like a ziggurat seen from the front, are the second clue, and so is the stylised fountain. The Golden Fountain combines both, arch inside arch in bands of black, cream marble, bronze and gold, with water tumbling down a stepped pyramid in three tiers.

The skyscraper is the third. Golden Skyline shows an imaginary city: a tall stepped tower with a slender spire, gold searchlight beams fanning into a black sky and amber windows glowing in the smaller towers below. Look for strong symmetry, vertical lines and a restricted palette, and you are looking at Art Deco wall art in its purest form.

Figures, animals and glamour

The people of Art Deco posters are sleek and drawn in profile. The Golden Flapper has a glossy black bob with a straight fringe, a gold beaded headband with a jewelled ornament and a tall pale plume, and several strands of pearls. The Gilded Silhouette reimagines Klimt's standing portraits in a Deco key: a woman in a sequinned black dress inside a gold arch, with gold and slate-blue circles turning behind her.

Animals were chosen for speed and elegance. The Deco Peacock stands in dark emerald and teal before a half circle of eye feathers drawn in fine gold lines, framed by teal medallions in the corners. Panther in the Golden Palms stretches a dark cat through gold fronds, with thin vertical gold lines behind putting the jungle in order, a very Deco way of taming nature.

Art Deco wall art in a modern home

You do not need a 1920s apartment for Art Deco wall art. The style comes alive against deep, saturated walls: black, emerald, navy, bottle green or teal, with warm grey or champagne as softer options. Brass lamps, velvet, marble and ribbed glass repeat its materials without overdoing them.

Hallways and home bars suit the emblem-like sunburst; dining rooms suit figures and peacocks; a bathroom with marble or brass fittings is a surprisingly good match for the fountain. In a living room, a skyline or the panther above a long sideboard gives the room its focal point. Keep the rest of that wall clear: Deco ornament needs a plain setting to look deliberate rather than busy.

Deco and Bauhaus side by side

Art Deco and the Bauhaus were contemporaries with opposite instincts. Deco loved ornament and glamour; the Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919, wanted simple geometry that could be made and used. They meet in their shared love of circle, arch and clean line, which is why the two can hang together.

Arches in Navy & Gold stacks orange and gold arches beneath a tall navy arch holding a gold-leaf sun, and The Golden Grid builds squares, quarter circles and triangles in gold leaf, black, brick red and cream. Placed beside a piece of Art Deco wall art, either one calms the ornament down and makes a gallery wall feel modern.

Frames, sizes and symmetry

Art Deco wall art is symmetrical by nature, so hang it symmetrically. Centre a single work over a console, a sideboard or a bed, or flank a mirror or a doorway with a matching pair. A slim brass or gold frame suits the style best; black lacquer-look frames are the sharper alternative. Keep mounts narrow so the black grounds run to the edge.

These works are printable downloads, and the portrait files at 7168 × 10752 px print sharply to about 60 × 90 cm, a good size for the emblem-like designs to read across a room. A Frame TV version comes with every download, and printed versions can be ordered on the site. Hang the centre at about 150 cm from the floor, and light it from above so the gold catches.