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Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

MID-CENTURY MODERN STYLE

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively. 

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by legendary manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.

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Style: Mid-Century Modern
Recognized Seller Listings
Heart Balloon on Barbed Wire Giclee Canvas Print
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) rectangular giclee print on canvas depicting a heart, mylar balloon with bandaids forming an "x"" in its upper right corner, caught on a tangle of barbed wire ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Large Framed Still Life Oil Painting of an Urn of Flowers on a Garden Bench
Located in New York, NY
Large Mid-Century oil on canvas still life painting depicting a vase of flowers and grapes atop a stone garden seat with fruit and florals spilling o...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Vintage Dog and Lamb Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) oil painting of a dog reclining alongside a lamb in a barn filled with farm implements on rectangular, unframed canvas.
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Warm Hued Multi-Colored Abstract Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) acrylic painting of warm toned color swaths on a background of cool blue, green, and gray hues, on a square, unframed canvas.
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Still Life with Grapes Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) unframed still life painting of a lush and overflowing display of grapes, pomegranates and figs, alongside a serpent wrapping around the base of a cross in the...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

20th Century Still Life Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) still life oil painting of a glass bowl housing two goldfish and reflecting the room's windows above an array of fruits placed atop plates and fringed cloths, and a barely visible checkered floor...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Vintage Tole Jockey on Horse Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) unframed tole painting depicting a lone jockey, his horse, and a background with a red barn and golden fields beneath a cloudy sky...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Metal, Tin

Fruits, Vegetables, and Gold Urn Still Life Painting on Wood
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) acrylic still life painting capturing an array of fruits and vegetables in warm tones, positioned alongside and in front of a large golden urn, painted on rect...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Acrylic, Wood

Brass Horn, Sword, and Antler Still Life Painting on Wood
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) acrylic still life of a brass horn and sword alongside a bird perched on an antler that is spearing sheet music reading, "Le Retour La Chasse -1923."Painted on...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Acrylic, Wood

Dogs Gathered on Steps Portrait Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) portrait of four stately dogs in various positions on sandstone-colored steps leading to a walkway that winds through a lush green lawn...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Portrait of a Woman and White Dog Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) unframed canvas oil portrait of a woman seated with a small dog on her lap, leaning on her propped up arm as she gazes into the distance, amid a blue painterly...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Woman Playing the Lute Tapestry in Frame
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) tapestry featuring a woman playing a lute, alongside an open book and flowers, set in a wooden, bronze-finished frame carved with acanthus leaf designs.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Textile, Wood

Group of Sheep in Field Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) oil painting capturing a group of sheep huddled in a field of browns and greens, under a cloudy, darkening sky on rectangular, unframed canvas.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Portrait of a Man in a Headwrap Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) unframed canvas oil portrait of a man turned away from the viewer and looking over his shoulder to reveal his profile, wearing an embroidered pink outfit...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Aubusson Tapestry-Style Landscape Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) unframed canvas oil painting in the style and subject matter typical of an Aubusson tapestry, capturing a bird perched on a flowering tree in the foreground an...
Category

20th Century Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Feeding Fowl in Barn Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) oil painting depicting chickens, ducklings, doves, and pigeons pecking for seed on a hay-covered floor, painted on rectangular, unframed canvas.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Large Framed Still Life Oil Painting of an Urn of Flowers and Fruit on a Garden
Located in New York, NY
Large mid-century oil still life painting depicting an urn of assorted flowers on an outdoor stone bench against a stone wall above another basket ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Large Framed Still Life Oil Painting of an Urn of Flowers and Fruit on a Garden
Located in New York, NY
Large mid-century oil still life painting depicting an urn of assorted flowers on an outdoor stone bench against a stone wall above another basket ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Wood, Canvas, Giltwood

Framed Oil Landscape Painting of a Forest Path and Distant Mountains
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century oil on canvas landscape painting depicting a path through a forest leading to an open field with mountains in the far distance in a black and gold beveled rectangular woo...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood

European Costume Print
Located in New York, NY
European costume print in a gilt rectangular frame (Part of series of 6: GRS345-GRS350) PRICED EACH.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Rope

Heart Balloon on Barbed Wire Giclee Canvas Print
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) rectangular giclee print on canvas depicting a heart, mylar balloon with bandaids forming an "x"" in its upper right corner, caught on a tangle of barbed wire ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Watermelon and Knife Still Life Painting on Wood
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) still life acrylic painting of sliced and eaten watermelon with a knife on a surface draped in beige cloth, painted on rectangular plywood.     
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Acrylic, Wood

Framed Indigenous Americans on Horseback Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) painting of four Indigenous Americans on horseback leading a line of additional riders behind them through a field of short,...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Vintage Silver Framed Abstract Multi-colored Pen and Watercolor Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage abstract pen and watercolor painting of multi-colored lines and squiggles in a silver rectangular frame (Companion pieces: 062753, 062754. 062756) (by TONY FRITZ-VILARS).
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Metal

Aubusson Tapestry-Style Landscape Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) unframed canvas oil painting in the style and subject matter typical of an Aubusson tapestry, capturing a bird perched on a flowering tree in the foreground an...
Category

20th Century Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Birch Tree Lined Road and Landscape Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) acrylic landscape painting of a road lined with birch trees that are shedding their leaves, and figures walking in the distance, captured on rectangular, unfra...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Framed Bag of Apples Still Life Oil Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) still life oil painting of apples spilling from a bag on the forest floor, alongside a straw hat, painted on stretched canvas in a rectangular giltwood frame w...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Framed Oil Still Life Painting of a Wine Bottle with Flowers and Fruit
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century oil still life painting depicting a blue wine bottle holding a flowering branch next several fruits on a mottled light blue background on...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Giltwood, Canvas

European Costume Print
Located in New York, NY
European costume print in a gilt rectangular frame (Part of series of 6: GRS345-GRS350) priced each.
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Rope

Framed object by Rune Hagberg, Mixed Media, Sweden 1970s
Located in Stockholm, SE
Painting by Rune Hagberg, Sweden, 1970s. Mixed media. H: 95 cm / 3’ 1 1/2" W: 48 cm / 1’ 7” Rune Fredrik Hagberg was a renowned Swedish artist that took much of his inspiration from Zen Buddhism spirituality and Eastern Calligraphy. He is represented at, among many others, the Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, and the Norrköping Art Museum. Hagberg’s meditative informalism is placed between the concretism and expressionism of the 1950s, his art becoming simpler until he reduced it so far that only tightly closed picture reels...
Category

20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Paper

Portrait of a Beagle Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) large, unframed canvas oil painting of a black, white and brown beagle standing upright with a slight tilt of the head in a field of grass, with river, forest ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

‘Tea at the Vicarage’ by Margaret Dovaston, Dated 1952
By Margaret Dovaston
Located in Lymington, Hampshire
‘Tea at the Vicarage’ by Margaret Dovaston, dated 1952, an oil painting showing four gentlemen having an earnest conversation over a cup of tea on a terrace outside a cottage garden, Margaret Dovaston, dated 1952. English. Margaret Isabel Dovaston (1884 – 1954) was a British artist who became particularly well known for her historical genre scenes, often depicting groups in Georgian costume. In the course of her education, she was taught by Thomas William Cole at the Ealing School of Art and Arthur Stockdale Cope at the South Kensington School of Art. Her crowning achievement was winning a five-year scholarship the to the Royal Academy Schools (1903-1908) where she won many medals. She exhibited at the Royal Academy (1908 and 1910) and helped set up The Ealing Art...
Category

1950s English Vintage Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Paint

Mid-Century Still Life Oil Painting of a Basket of Flower and Bow in a Giltwood
Located in New York, NY
Rectangular oil on canvas still life painting of a basket of assorted flowers tied with a blue bow against a dark background in a rectangular carved giltwood frame.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood

Group of Sheep in Field Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) oil painting capturing a group of sheep huddled in a field of browns and greens, under a cloudy, darkening sky on rectangular, unframed canvas.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Framed Herder and Cattle Landscape Oil Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) gold-framed painting depicting a man, cattle and sheep traversing a small body of water, with brown rolling fields in the background and a white church seen in...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Cattle Resting in a Field Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) oil painting depicting a group of dairy cows relaxing in a field with a background of sweeping flat planes interrupted only by a sing...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Heroic Gladiator and Blue Tent Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) unframed painting of a gladiator seated in front of a blue tent with gold fringed drapes, making a grand gesture while four others look on adoringly, on unfram...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Framed Panoramic Landscape and Manor House Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) panoramic landscape painting of a manor house and surrounding gardens on wide, narrow rectangular canvas in a black-painted ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Wood, Canvas

Framed Herder and Cattle Landscape Oil Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) gold-framed painting depicting a man, cattle and sheep traversing a small body of water, with brown rolling fields in the background and a white church seen in...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Gardeners Among the Ruins Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) genre painting capturing figures working in a garden, where two noblemen are also conversing, at the foot of ruins and a stone bridge, while a windmill and bui...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Framed Color Lithograph of Brown and Multi-Colored Tropical Fish
Located in New York, NY
Mid-century lithograph of two tropical fish, one small and brown, one larger and multi-colored in a beige mat with gold bevel and a rectangular giltwood frame. (signed, Charles Skora...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Wood, Giltwood, Glass, Paper

Framed Acrylic Still Life Painting of a Wine Bottle and Fruit on a Windowsill Ov
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century acrylic still life painting depicting a wine bottle and a plate of fruit on a windowsill in the foreground, overlooking a garden and village scene through the window beyond on rectangular canvas in an antiqued silver painted...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Acrylic, Wood, Giltwood, Canvas

Framed Color Lithograph of Brown and Pink Tropical Fish
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century lithograph of two tropical fish, one brown, one pink and red, in a beige mat with gold bevel and a rectangular giltwood frame. (signed, Charles Skora, #9).  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Glass, Wood, Giltwood, Paper

Rooster in Nature Print on Wood
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) print of a rooster standing on red clay and looking to the side, in front of a blue pond and autumnal trees, on plywood.   
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Wood

Portrait of a Woman in a Blue Dress Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) painting portraying a seated woman in a vivid blue dress with her hands folded in her lap, against an abstractly painted background of land, sky and town, on a...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Woman in Bathing Suit Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) portrait of a woman wearing a blue bathing suit, seated amidst white abstract patterns representing falling and splashing water, painted on rectangular unframe...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Flowers in Jug Still Life Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) still life oil painting of white and pink flowers with greenery arranged in a ceramic jug, on rectangular, unframed canvas.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Vintage Dog and Lamb Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) oil painting of a dog reclining alongside a lamb in a barn filled with farm implements on rectangular, unframed canvas.  
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Pink Rose and Multicolor Hydrangea Arrangement Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) still life painting softly capturing a pastel arrangement of bloomed, pink roses, stemmed blossoms and green and white hydrangea in a fluted vase, adjacent to ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Vintage Dressmaker and Customer Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) painting capturing a dressmaker kneeling before a form holding an unfinished garment, while a customer holding a paper and looking off to the side sits in the ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Castle and Harbor Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) oil painting of a castle overlooking a harbor with several boats amid its calm waters, and a cloudy sky at sunset, on recta...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Framed Still Life Oil Painting of a Flower Arrangement and Scattered Grapes and
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century oil still life painting of a vase filled with assorted flowers next to a basket full of fruit on a table covered in fruit and grapes in ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Framed Lithograph of Two Brown and Gray Tropical Fish
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century lithograph of two brown and gray tropical fish in profile on a white background in a taupe and light blue double mat and a rectangular silver and green painting (signed, ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Glass, Wood, Paper

Framed Portrait of Woman in Green with Flowers Oil Painting
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) oil painting of a woman dressed in green, seated at a table next to an arrangement of yellow and red flowers, on canvas in a rectangular giltwood frame with a ...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood

Framed Oil Painting of a Colonial Garden and River
Located in New York, NY
Mid-Century oil on canvas genre scene painting depicting people tending to a colonial garden next to a river outside of the city walls with large buildings on the horizon in a rectan...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Giltwood

Oil Painting of a Landscape in a Venetian Style Frame
Located in New York, NY
Mid-century oil painting of an abstracted landscape in a Venetian style gilt frame with linen mat. Signed by artist, 1964.
Category

20th Century Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Resting Lion Painting Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th Century) portrait of a lion lying down and looking back at his tail in a field populated with lush trees, painted in a muted palette of greens...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Woman in Bathing Suit Painting on Canvas
Located in New York, NY
Vintage (20th century) portrait of a woman wearing a blue bathing suit, seated amidst white abstract patterns representing falling and splashing water, painted on rectangular unframe...
Category

20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Wall Decorations

Materials

Canvas

Mid-century Modern wall decorations for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a broad range of unique Mid-Century Modern wall decorations for sale on 1stDibs. Many of these items were first offered in the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artisans have continued to produce works inspired by this style. If you’re looking to add vintage wall decorations created in this style to your space, the works available on 1stDibs include wall decorations, decorative objects, serveware, ceramics, silver and glass and other home furnishings, frequently crafted with paper, wood and other materials. If you’re shopping for used Mid-Century Modern wall decorations made in a specific country, there are Europe, North America, and United States pieces for sale on 1stDibs. While there are many designers and brands associated with original wall decorations, popular names associated with this style include Curtis Jeré, Karl Blossfeldt, Herta Baller, and Josef Albers. It’s true that these talented designers have at times inspired knockoffs, but our experienced specialists have partnered with only top vetted sellers to offer authentic pieces that come with a buyer protection guarantee. Prices for wall decorations differ depending upon multiple factors, including designer, materials, construction methods, condition and provenance. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $16 and tops out at $406,322 while the average work can sell for $1,500.

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