Black and White or Colour Wall Art? How to Decide

The choice between black and white wall art and colour is usually treated as a matter of taste and made at a glance, in a shop or on a screen. In fact the decision depends on three things: the colours the room already carries, how much the subject of the piece needs colour, and what else will hang on the same wall. This guide takes those three questions in turn, then explains how surface, frame and light affect the decision.

Black and white and colour: two different readings

When colour is taken out of a piece, four things remain: line, shape, lightness and darkness, and texture. A black and white piece therefore brings the composition and the light to the front; the eye looks at the order itself rather than at colour. A colour piece adds a layer to that: atmosphere, season, place.

Tennis is a good example. The colour of a court carries information: red clay, blue hard court and green grass are told apart by their colours; the detail is in tennis court surfaces and their colours. When the same court is shown in black and white that information disappears and what remains is the geometry of the lines. Both are valid ways of showing it, but they do not say the same thing.

Monochrome is not the same as black and white

Between the two there is a third way: a piece built from the light and dark tones of a single colour. A composition made only of greens, or only of earth tones, carries the calm of black and white while also adding warmth or coolness to the room. In most cases of indecision this is the right answer.

What the room says

A picture does not go onto an empty wall but into a room whose colours are already set. Look at the room first.

A colourful room, a quiet piece

If the room has a patterned rug, a coloured sofa and full bookshelves, most of the colour budget has been spent. In such a room a black and white or monochrome piece rests the eye; a multicoloured piece competes with the other colours in the room.

A neutral room, a colour piece

In a room that is mostly white, grey and beige, a colour piece gives the space a focus; the room is quiet enough to carry it. A black and white piece works here too, but the room can turn cold. In that case warmth has to come from somewhere else: a wooden frame, an off-white mount or warm-toned light.

Wall colour

A white wall carries both. On a dark or coloured wall, a black and white piece with a light mount gains a clear edge. If a colour piece is to hang on a coloured wall, its dominant colour should either belong to the same family as the wall or contrast with it clearly; two tones that are close but not the same make each other look muddy.

What the subject wants

Not every subject survives the loss of colour equally well.

Subjects with strong shapes carry black and white easily: court lines, the silhouette of a racket, architecture. Subjects in which colour is part of the meaning lose something when it goes: the surface of a court, a club's colours, a particular time of day. Old photographs are a separate case; an archive photograph taken in black and white should stay as it is. We described how a club's archive is arranged on a wall in a club history wall for the lobby.

The greyscale test

There is a simple way to decide: turn a photograph of the piece to greyscale on your phone. If it still reads, the composition is carrying it; it will work in colour or in black and white. If the shapes merge into one another, colour was carrying it. The reason is tonal value: two colours that look very different, a red and a green for instance, can fall to the same grey when converted, and the boundary between them disappears.

Mixing: black and white and colour on the same wall

The two can share a wall, on three conditions.

The first is a majority. When four pieces out of five are black and white and one is in colour, the colour piece reads as an accent. A half-and-half mix looks undecided; the wall splits into two separate selections.

The second is saturation. A piece with muted, greyed colours sits easily beside black and white; a highly saturated piece overpowers them all.

The third is a common denominator. When frame, mount and size stay the same, the wall reads as a whole even though the content changes. How to choose the tone of a frame is covered in how to choose a picture frame, and how to build multi-piece arrangements in gallery wall or single statement piece.

If you are building a series

A decision made for a single piece is not the same as a decision made for a series that will grow over time. Black and white unites different subjects and pieces bought at different times of its own accord; adding a new piece is easy. In a colour series, unity comes from a shared palette: the tone of the white and the level of saturation have to stay the same in every piece. If you expect to add to it over the years, think at the outset about which route you can sustain.

Surface, frame and light

In a black and white piece, the depth of the black depends on the surface. On matt canvas black softens and moves towards dark grey; on a glossy surface it deepens but reflects. Because dark areas make reflections more visible, the place for a dark, glazed black and white piece has to be chosen with care; we explained why in how to avoid glare on wall art.

The whites need the same attention. The white in the piece, the white of the mount and the white of the wall can differ in temperature. A cream mount around a cool white piece looks yellowed, while a cool white mount around a cream-toned piece makes the piece look dirty. Matching the whites in temperature matters as much in a black and white piece as choosing colours does.

The colour of the light completes the decision. Warm white light, around 2700 K, pulls a neutral black and white piece slightly towards yellow; in a colour piece it warms the reds and earth tones and dulls the blues. A more neutral light, roughly 3000–4000 K, shows black and white as it is. The detail on lighting is in office wall art.

Change over time differs too. In colour prints some colours can fade before others and the balance of the piece shifts; in black and white, fading shows as a loss of contrast. For both, direct sun is the thing to avoid; ways of protecting a piece are in how to clean and care for wall art.

Step by step: black and white or colour

1. Write down the three dominant colours of the room: the wall, the floor or rug, the largest piece of furniture.

2. Count how many separate colours stand out in the room. If there are more than three, start with a black and white or monochrome piece; if fewer, with a colour piece.

3. Check whether the subject needs colour: do the greyscale test.

4. If other pieces will share the wall, decide which side the majority will be on.

5. Choose the surface and the frame; match the whites of the piece, the mount and the wall.

6. See the piece in the evening as well, in the room's own light.

7. If you are still undecided, choose a piece built from the tones of a single colour, with low saturation.

Common mistakes

— Assuming black and white will improve any room. It can make a neutral, cool room colder still.

— Matching a colour piece exactly to the colour of the sofa. The piece becomes an accessory to the upholstery; a tone from the same family is enough.

— Mixing black and white and colour pieces half and half.

— Putting whites of different temperatures side by side.

— Hanging a dark, glazed piece opposite the window.

— Turning a subject whose colour carries meaning into black and white.

— Deciding on a screen. Colour on a screen is more vivid than colour on a wall in daylight.

Colour at Aurecort

Aurecort's Framed Art Series consists of compositions that see the court from above; the lines and the colour of the surface set up an order on canvas. In these pieces colour is part of the subject: the colour of the surface tells you which court is being shown. The standard size is 50 × 70 cm; if a different size is needed, we work to a custom size, which is settled at the quotation stage. It is enough to tell us the colour of your wall, the dominant tones in the room and any other pieces that will hang on the same wall. The place of colour within a composition is covered in tennis wall art: colour, texture and composition.

For how the tennis week is unfolding, our latest tennis roundup is online. For 3D-printed and hand-painted decor objects, see our sister brand Aurecort 3D.

Frequently asked questions

Does black and white wall art suit every room?

It suits most rooms, but it does not improve every room. In a cool room that is mostly white and grey it can make the space colder still; a wooden frame or an off-white mount balances that effect.

Can black and white and colour pieces hang on the same wall?

They can. It is enough to keep the majority on one side, choose a colour piece with low saturation, and use the same frame and mount throughout.

In a small room, is black and white or colour better?

What decides it is the weight of the piece, not whether it is black and white or in colour. A light-toned piece with few colours does not crowd a small room; a dark piece, even in black and white, makes the wall heavy.

Does a colour picture fade over time?

Every print changes over time in light; in colour pieces this shows as some colours weakening before others. Keeping the piece out of direct sun and using glass that filters ultraviolet light in a glazed frame slows fading.

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