Wall art size guide for Switzerland, from city flat to Alpine chalet

Start with the flat. The average occupied home measured 102 m² in 2024, and 54% of homes have three or four rooms. Planning guidance recommends 20–24 m² for a living and dining room shared by four to six people, which usually means a sofa wall 4–5 m long, seen from 3–4 m away.

The sofa sets the width: a canvas about two-thirds as wide reads as one composition with it, so 120–160 cm (47–63 in) over a three-seater of 200–240 cm. The ceiling sets the height. Most cantons require at least 2.40 m in habitable rooms and new builds commonly reach 2.50–2.60 m; after the sofa back, a gap of 20–25 cm and clear wall under the ceiling, about 100 cm (39 in) of canvas height remains. A horizontal of 140 × 100 cm (55 × 39 in) is the safe choice, or two uprights of 70 × 100 cm (28 × 39 in). Browse horizontal works and art for living rooms.

Sizes are for the canvas itself; centre height runs from the floor to the middle of the canvas. The ceiling bands follow the building ages above.

Between two rows, choose the larger. See panoramic and upright works, or oversized and custom sizes.

Switzerland is a country of tenants. At the end of 2022 only 35.9% of households owned their home, and fewer in the urban cantons: 26.8% in Zürich, 18.9% in Geneva, 15.5% in Basel-Stadt. A canvas bought for a flat in Oerlikon or Eaux-Vives may hang in several homes, often smaller ones: the Lake Geneva region has the least living space per person, 42.5 m² against 46.6 m² nationally.

Two choices keep a painting useful from home to home. A height of about 100 cm (39 in) suits the 2.40 m minimum ceiling and still looks generous under 3 m, and a pair of 70 × 100 cm (28 × 39 in) canvases is the most adaptable buy: side by side over a sofa in one flat, either side of a bed in the next.

Lake villas are where Swiss walls get long. Houses offered in Cologny, Vandœuvres and Collonge-Bellerive run to several hundred square metres, and a 2014 villa in Conches is marketed on ceilings of over 3 m. Glass takes much of the room: a villa of nearly 650 m² in Cologny opens to the lake through immense bay windows. The painting goes on the solid wall facing or beside the glass, often 6 m or more, so 180–250 cm of canvas, or a pair, is simply the right scale.

The stair needs size too. New villas in Cologny are built over three levels, and in a Goldküste house designed around its owner's collection, with a sight line of almost 30 m through the house, a single monochrome painting holds the back wall of the open staircase. Give that wall an upright of 200–300 cm (79–118 in), or two canvases stacked, centred about 170 cm above the lower landing so it reads from both floors.

Chalets offered around Verbier run from about 140 m² to 455 m², and chalet walls are rarely plain: a Saanen chalet renovated by Thierry Lemaire pairs rough larch with smooth Hainaut stone, a Gstaad chalet by Paolo Moschino hangs works by Riopelle and Tàpies in rooms with a fireplace of local stone, and a Gstaad apartment by Nicky Dobree has panelled ceilings and tartan wool curtains. Against that much wood and pattern a small or pale canvas gets lost, so we suggest 150–220 cm for the main wall, in strong contrast or warm earth and gold.

Upstairs the roof decides: a long, low canvas 40–60 cm (16–24 in) tall on the knee wall, an upright on the gable.

Swiss bedrooms are compact: planning guidance sets 10 m² as the minimum and recommends 14–15 m², at least 2.8–3.0 m wide, so the bed wall is often little wider than the bed and its bedside tables. One horizontal canvas over the headboard, or two small uprights above the bedside tables, suits it best, in calm subjects and soft tones.

Mountain hotel rooms are larger. Terrace rooms at Six Senses Crans-Montana measure 46–52 m² and its suites 71–87 m², with local artwork in the rooms, while full-width windows frame the mountains as the room's picture. With the view on one wall, the painting takes the headboard wall, at 120–160 cm (47–63 in). See art for bedrooms and hotel guest-room programmes.

Swiss hotels put most of their art where every guest passes. The Dolder Grand in Zürich shows around 100 works by 90 artists, most in public areas, and at The Alpina Gstaad a Bosco Sodi diptych hangs behind the reception desk. The 2025 renovation of the Renaissance Zurich Tower hung 20 large-format graphics along the corridors of every floor. For a reception wall plan on 200–300 cm or a two-panel work; for a corridor, three to five uprights of 60 × 80 to 80 × 100 cm (24 × 31 to 31 × 39 in), centred at about 150 cm.

Offices follow the same map: Julius Baer hangs its collection in meeting rooms, offices, foyers and corridors. In a boardroom, one horizontal of 180–250 cm above the credenza, centred at 140–150 cm for seated eyes. More on Swiss hotels and restaurants and offices and institutions.

Measure the free wall between corners, windows or doors, note the ceiling height and what stands in front of it, and send a photograph on WhatsApp, with the quote form or by email. We suggest a size and a shortlist from some 1,300 designs, or design a piece for your project. For several walls, one canvas can be painted first and the rest once you approve it.

Room-by-room advice is on Swiss villas, flats and chalets, and the wider picture in our Switzerland wall art guide.

Each canvas can travel stretched and ready to hang, framed, or rolled; a rolled canvas, the lightest and most economical way to send a large painting, arrives without stretcher bars, and any local framer can stretch it for you.