50×70 is the size we sell most of, and the reason is arithmetic rather than fashion. It is large enough to hold a wall on its own, small enough to buy two without the wall closing in, and it is the last size in our range that comes in the coloured frames. Almost every question about which format to choose ends up being a question about whether 50×70 is enough.
What one, two, three or four of them cover
Art below furniture should span roughly two thirds of that furniture. Turn the rule round and each arrangement of 50×70 points at a furniture width.
| Arrangement | Gap | Total span | Suits furniture of |
|---|---|---|---|
| One, portrait | — | 50 cm | about 75 cm |
| Two, portrait | 4 cm | 104 cm | about 155 cm |
| Two, portrait | 6 cm | 106 cm | about 160 cm |
| Two, portrait | 8 cm | 108 cm | about 162 cm |
| Three, portrait | 6 cm | 162 cm | about 240 cm |
| Four, portrait | 6 cm | 218 cm | about 325 cm |
The pair at 106 cm is the workhorse of the whole range. It lands on two thirds of a 160 cm bed almost exactly, and it is comfortably wide enough for a 140 cm bed, where 106 cm covers three quarters. Above a 240 cm sofa, three in a row is the clean answer at 162 cm. Note what the table does not offer: a single 50×70 above a sofa. At 50 cm it covers a fifth of a 260 cm sofa, and no amount of good art rescues that.
Heights, in figures
Hung portrait with its centre at the standard 145 cm above the floor, a 50×70 has its top edge at 180 cm and its bottom edge at 110 cm. Under a 240 cm ceiling that leaves 60 cm of wall above it, which is why the format looks settled in almost any room. Turned landscape at the same centre, the edges are 170 and 120. The reasoning behind the standard is set out in how high to hang art, and it holds for 50×70 in every situation except above a bed, where the headboard decides instead.
1919 bauhaus poster #4
1919 bauhaus poster #6
Statue of liberty poster til stuen
Paul Klee kunst poster til stuen
Paul Klee #2 kunst poster til stuen
Svanen af Arne Jacobsen som poster til stuen
In a hallway
A corridor is the one place where 50×70 beats everything larger, and it is not about the wall — it is about how far back you can stand. In a hall of 100 to 120 cm you are looking at the print from little more than an arm's length. A 50×70 can be read from that distance; a 100×140 cannot. Two of them along the length of a hall, at the same centre height and 6 cm apart, is the arrangement that works most reliably. Motifs for the entrance are in the hallway selection.
On a gallery wall
50×70 is the anchor. A wall built entirely of it looks like a grid, and a wall with none of it tends to look scattered. The usual structure is one or two 50×70 carrying the composition with 30×42 and 21×30 filling the edges, gaps held at the same 4 to 8 cm throughout, and the frame centres aligned rather than the top edges.
Frames stop being colourful above this size
This matters if colour is part of the plan. Oak and black are made in all five sizes. White, dark brown, blue, green, red, yellow and pink are made up to and including 50×70 and no further — above it the choice is oak or black. If you want a red frame or a green one, 50×70 is the largest you can have it in, which you can check across the frame range.
The full set of dimensions is in the size guide, and the prints that sell most in this format are collected in the bestsellers.