Why Paintings Are Hung Too High in White Cube Galleries

Pericle Guaglianone argues that contemporary painting exhibitions frequently suffer from poor installation, specifically hanging works too high. He traces this to the hegemony of painting as a medium, which often disregards spatial dialogue, and to curators and gallerists who are oversensitive to installation art but neglect painting's needs. The white cube, a recent canon, lacks a consolidated experience with painting, leading to awkward heights. Guaglianone notes that paintings hung too high appear decorative, as if awaiting furniture, and socially exclusionary, alienating shorter viewers. He cites Kazimir Malevich's Black Square at the 1915 0.10 exhibition as a justified exception, hung high to evoke Orthodox spirituality. He proposes a simple guideline: align the painting's center with the eyes of a short-statured viewer. Despite the criticism, he sees the lack of codification as a sign of vitality in contemporary painting.