I love portraits, particularly (and almost exclusively) painted vintage portraits vs. contemporary photography. My favorite portrait style is primitive early American folk style paintings. A. Ellis is a good example. Outside that genre is another favorite, the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani. These portrait styles are much more about capturing a feeling and personality rather than a physically accurate representation of the subject, and I love that.

 

I prefer hanging painted portraits of strangers (or family if I have access to them) from the past, but some people prefer to decorate with current or recent family photos. Excessive displays of family photos can feel forced if they are not done well and can disrupt the flow of a well-designed space.  

 

How to Hang Family Portraits (in Groups or Solo) 

Starting with the basics, there are two main considerations for hanging art and portraits. If you have one large family portrait (ideally a painting), give it a prominent position in the home and hang it solo so it doesn’t compete with other artwork. 

 

If you have many smaller portraits and photos, hang them in a group. However, try to stick with a single style or two styles. Ensure there is an element that ties the group together, whether that’s the artistic medium, color palette, or framing. As a general rule for hanging art, place your portraits in a position for easy viewing and in relation to the furnishings of your home rather than the architecture. 

 

Showcasing Your Family’s Personality Over a Specific Style

I am not someone who hangs many family portraits on my walls. However, I do have one of each of my children, which they painted themselves in elementary school art class. The style is childish, funny, and outside-the-lines artistic, capturing a true representation of their personalities. These portraits remind me of a time in their lives when I was really just getting to know them as people.  

 

These handpainted portraits don’t fit into a uniform style the same way that a professional photo or painted portrait might. However, they do such a better job of displaying my family’s personality. 

 

Family Photos vs. Painted Portraits

I have just one other painted portrait hanging in my dining room that my mother had done of me and my sister when we were five and seven years old. I remember standing for it (wearing uncomfortable clothing) as we were painted live at the Palmer Events Center Craft Fair on Town Lake (as it was called then) in Austin in 1976. 

 

The portrait only vaguely resembles us. In it, I look more like a twenty-three-year-old than a five-year-old! I saved the portrait from my mother’s home when she died a few years ago and had it restored and framed. Now, it captures a moment far enough in the past that it is very dated in style and reminds me of my childhood in a way that makes me feel very connected to my mother and those days growing up. 

 

My aspirational mother commissioned the portrait because she wanted to commemorate her children and the affluent new life that she had achieved through very hard work and chance. She grew up poor and reaching financial independence allowed her to spend money on luxuries like having her daughters’ portraits painted. 

 

I think there is something to be said for painted portraits over family photos, especially today when we have so many family snapshots on our phones. A portrait is an art piece that commands attention and preserves a moment of family history.  

 

Creating a Sense of Family History 

If you are lucky enough to have inherited family portraits from the generations before you, they are works to be celebrated. Hanging these antique portraits creates a sense of family history.  They’re something that could be seen hanging in an important estate or grand family vacation home.

 

Who’s in That Portrait? I Don’t Know. 

And if you don’t have inherited family portraits, why not purchase someone else’s? After all, a stranger’s portrait is a great way to add drama to your home and start a conversation. 

 

In my early 20s, I would search for vintage portraits in antique and thrift stores to adorn my walls. Of course, none of these people were family ancestors. However, I thought it was very clever and quirky to hang these strangers on my walls. It felt like a statement about our small, irrelevant roles on this planet and how, maybe one day, my portrait would find its way into someone else’s home as decor, too. The act of hanging up these thrifted portraits turned tradition on its head and, at the time, made me feel completely in control over my own young space. 

I still love vintage portraits, and I’m always on the lookout for the perfect one to fit into my next interior project. I found one a few years ago by a local artist featuring her and her daughter sitting by the pool in the late 1990s in bathing suits and swim caps. It hangs in my bedroom, and on an adjacent wall, I have a framed poster of a Lucian Freud poster I purchased in 1994 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art after viewing the Freud retrospective. Those are the only art pieces hanging on my bedroom walls other than a photo of me and my best friend. 

Preserving a Snapshot in Time

While I prefer painted portraits, photos have their place, especially if they hold memories. In the mid-1990s, I shared a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side with my best friend. I took the bedroom, and she bunked in the living room because that was all we could afford. One day, she hired a photographer to create new headshots so she could start going to theatre auditions. At the spur of the moment, she asked me to join in a photo for one quick shot to commemorate our friendship. This is one of the only photos I have displayed, and it takes me back to those early days trying to make it in NYC. 

Hang the Portraits 

If you’re still wondering whether or not your family portrait matches your decor, I would instead ask what makes a comfortable home for you. If it will bring you joy to display a portrait of your family, then trust me, there is a place to hang it. Our homes aren’t meant to appeal to the masses or be photoshoot-ready. They’re meant to bring us comfort. 

 

So, let’s hang the family portraits.