When you own a hotel, it is imperative that you do whatever possible to help guests feel at home. You also want to give your establishment a sense of class so guests feel that the money they spend on their stay is justified. You can kill two birds with one stone – or paint job – by selecting works of art that are elegant and add a sense of class to the establishment.
Of course, that’s only part of the equation. Most of your wall is still going to be visible to the guests, and ugly, dirty, chipped walls against Van Goghs or Monets won’t impress anyone.
That’s why you’ll want to take care to make sure to match your wall color to the paintings you choose, and vice versa.
- Consider the Color
Some colors and artists go together – think Picasso in his Blue and Rose Periods, the especially-bright and vibrant colors in Van Gogh’s palette, or the pop art-inspired aesthetic in Warhol’s works.
Your wall color needs to match or complement whatever color is at play in the paintings.
Do you have paintings of the sea on display? Blues are probably a good choice then, especially if you are a seaside resort.
Maybe you have warmer, earthier tones on display, such as out of a wholesome Norman Rockwell work? Then you’ll want to choose warm browns, ambers, and pastels to match.
- Don’t Go Dark
On the whole, brighter colors feel more naturally welcoming. You want your guests to feel welcome and at ease, so while Egon Schiele and his dark, blunt colors and tones may be beautiful, they won’t match your hotel’s desired paint scheme.
Avoid darker browns, blues, reds, and similar colors as primary hues. That said, they can still make for great accent colors to better highlight the vibrancy of your lighter, brighter, more welcoming colors.
- Be Consistent
Cubists such as Braque and Picasso shattered the art world with their Cubism, and painters such as Kandinsky relied on heavy color contrast in different fragmented shapes.
That may be great for wall hangings, but that’s a horrible strategy for your hotel’s walls themselves. These need to be consistent and easy to paint from end to end.
The same goes for outlandish colors, such as the excess of gold used in Klimt’s Gold Period. Unless you feel like painting your entire hotel gold (and doing so would be gaudy anyway) this is a bad move.
Bright yet calm, pale, controlled, and consistent color schemes in primary and secondary colors are your friend.
- Cities and Landscapes
Finally, consider what kind of painting you have on display.
If it’s a landscape, you’re going to want a lot of earthy greens, light browns, and blues.
On the other hand, a city scene of New York, London, Paris, or some other cosmopolitan center is bound to have some bright lights and metropolitan black and grey patterns mixed in there, all of which you can replicate in your color choice.
Finally, remember that Minimalism was a trend in art for a reason. Sometimes less is more, so if you choose minimalistic hotel art, make sure your wall color matches that minimalistic approach.
These techniques can help you transform your hotel’s interior into a masterpiece.