How to match art to your room colours
Art does not have to match the room. It has to share one colour with it.
The one-colour rule
Find one colour in the print that also appears in the room, a cushion, a rug, a chair, the wall, and let everything else in the print be free. That single link is enough to make the art look chosen for the room. Matching every colour looks like a catalogue; matching none looks like an accident.
Sage green rooms
Sage loves warm contrast. Orange and pink, as in Hilma af Klint's Youth paintings, look vivid against it; rust-red maples, as in Hiroshige's Maples at Mama, feel softer and more natural. Choose white mounts to give the colours room.
Terracotta rooms
On a terracotta or clay wall, pick art with blue or pink in it, or with a lot of cream space. Blue is terracotta's natural partner: Hiroshige's rain scenes or Kandinsky's blues sit well against it.
Blue rooms
A blue wall makes warm colours glow. Orange and gold, af Klint's Youth or Adulthood, bring the most energy; a natural oak frame adds warmth too.
White and neutral rooms
Here the art can be the colour. Go bold, and repeat one colour from the print in a textile, so it does not float alone.