Bedroom Art: Why What You See in the Morning and at Night Matters

The bedroom is often the last room we decorate. The walls stay empty, or they end up with a painting that didn't find a place anywhere else. And yet this is exactly where each of our days begins and ends.

In the bedroom you look at your surroundings at two special moments: just before falling asleep and right after waking up. It is worth choosing consciously what you see then.

Before you reach for your phone

In the morning, for a moment, you are still somewhere between sleep and your to-do list. You lie there, look ahead and slowly come back to the day. Then the phone usually appears: messages, headlines, other people's business.

An empty wall gives your eyes nowhere to rest, so they keep searching for something, and most often they find the phone.

I like to think that a painting can give you a moment for yourself before all that. A few seconds in which your eyes rest on something that moves you in particular.

A painting that changes with the light

On the wall opposite my bed hangs GOOD COMPANY. The painting is still for sale, although every time I think about it, it becomes harder to imagine an empty wall in its place.

In the evening the green becomes deeper, and the whole scene seems to slow down. In the morning the light brings out its warmth. I look at the same painting, yet I meet it a little differently each time.

What I love most is the woman in the painting. She is calm, immersed in her own world. She keeps her distance from everything that doesn't deserve her attention. She protects her privacy and her energy.

Some mornings need exactly that kind of reminder.

How to choose art for the bedroom

Choose something you want to come back to. You will see this work every day. It helps if you can keep discovering new details in it. My paintings are made of thousands of hand-painted circles. From a distance you see the whole scene, and when you come closer, the colour, the rhythm and small fragments you missed before.

Trust your reaction to colour. You don't have to choose beige just because someone decided it suits a bedroom. If deep green or emerald gives you pleasure, that is a better guide than a ready-made palette from a style guide.

Think about where you will be looking from. A painting above the bed looks beautiful when you walk into the room. A painting opposite the bed is something you can see the moment you wake up. That is exactly where I hung mine.

The works I chose with the bedroom in mind are in the bedroom art collection.

The simplest question

You don't need to know about art to choose a painting for the bedroom. Look at it and imagine seeing it tomorrow morning.

Can you imagine parting with it?

If not, it's worth making room for it.

If you would like to see the paintings in person, you are welcome at my gallery in Żoliborz, Warsaw. Visits are by appointment.