Music and dancers, hand-painted in oil

Why music art

Every music painting has a direction, and hanging it wrong kills the movement

These are figure paintings with implied motion, and which way that motion travels decides whether the wall works.

Most music and dance subjects carry a direction. A skirt sweeps left, a bow arm pulls right, a trumpet tilts up and away. Hang the painting so that movement travels into the room rather than off the edge of the wall, and the whole thing settles. It sounds fussy until you swap two pieces around and see the difference immediately. Worth deciding before you drive the hook in.

Dance subjects are usually tall and figure-led, so they suit narrow walls, stairwell returns and the space beside a doorway better than a broad sofa wall. For three figures on one canvas, go at least 90cm wide or the faces and hands turn to mush at normal viewing distance. Above an upright piano, leave 25 to 30cm clear of the lid. Skip patterned wallpaper — these palettes are already doing plenty.

How your painting is made

1. Choose the size and finishSeven standard sizes from 60 × 50cm to 200 × 135cm. Stretched ready to hang, rolled, or one of our frames. The size guide on every painting shows it to scale.
2. Painted to order, by handA university-trained artist paints your piece in oils on canvas, working from the original. Two to three weeks at the easel, then drying time.
3. Stretched, framed, checkedGallery-wrapped or framed in our workshop, then photographed and checked before it leaves.
4. Delivered free, Australia-wideMade to order in 21 to 28 days, then tracked to your door. Thirty-day money-back guarantee if it isn't what you hoped.