tintame lab

We test the rules of art at home.

Every guide repeats the same rules: two thirds of the sofa, centre at 145 cm, odd numbers look better. Few say where they come from. We test them, one at a time, and publish the question before the answer, the method, the numbers and how sure we are.

Wall test no. 1: is two thirds of the sofa the right width?

The rule says art above a sofa should be about two thirds of its width; many guides, ours included, say 66–75 %. None of the sources we found points to a study. The other answer you often hear is the golden ratio, about 62 %. So we put both to a vote.

The test. One room, one sofa (190 cm), the same two prints by Hilma af Klint (The Ten Largest, No. 3 and No. 4) in the same white frame with a 5 cm mount, hung with the bottom edge at the same height. Only the size changes.

Wall test option A: two 30 × 40 cm prints, 76 cm in all above a 190 cm sofa — A two 30 × 40 cm prints, 76 cm in all · **40 %** of the sofa

Wall test option B: two 50 × 70 cm prints, 116 cm in all above a 190 cm sofa — B two 50 × 70 cm prints, 116 cm in all · **61 %** of the sofa, close to the golden ratio

Wall test option C: two 70 × 100 cm prints, 156 cm in all above a 190 cm sofa — C two 70 × 100 cm prints, 156 cm in all · **82 %** of the sofa

Two thirds of 190 cm is 127 cm, between B and C. If the rule is right, people should pick B or C over A, and split between them.

How we run it

A poll on TikTok for 7 days: a video with the three walls and a carousel shown in two orders, so the option that comes first gets no head start.
We count votes per option and report each share with its margin of error (Wilson interval, 95 %).
It is a poll among people who follow us, not a representative sample. If the result is clear, the next step is a controlled online experiment with about 300 participants.
The room is an illustration made with AI; the prints, frames and mount are our real products at their real size.

Status: the poll opens soon. The result will be published here, whatever it shows.

Coming next

The golden ratio in 100,000 paintings. Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago publish the measurements of their collections as open data. How many paintings are actually golden rectangles?
Which wall colour makes a print look most alive? The same print on five wall colours, from warm white to deep green. Do people pick the contrast or the match?
Two thirds, tested properly. The controlled experiment, if wall test no. 1 points somewhere.

How we work

We write down the question and how we will read the answer before we collect anything.
Every result comes with its method, its uncertainty and its limits.
Data we collect ourselves is published under CC BY 4.0, so others can check it.
Mistakes are corrected openly, below.

Corrections

24 October 2026. The sofa in the test room measures about 190 cm, not 220 cm as we first assumed. The shares above use 190 cm.

Questions or ideas for a test: [email protected]