People choose between a canvas and a framed print on looks, then find out six months later that the room made the decision for them. A framed print opposite a window glares every afternoon. A canvas in a steamy bathroom sags. The wall and its light are the first question; taste is the second.
What each one actually is
A canvas print is your image printed on cotton or polyester canvas, stretched over a wooden frame and stapled at the back. The image usually wraps around the edges, which is why canvas hangs without a frame. It is light, it has no glass, and its surface is textured, so fine detail and small text soften slightly.
A framed print is paper behind glass or acrylic in a moulding, often with a mat (the card border) between the print and the frame. Detail stays sharp, the print can be replaced later for the price of the paper, and the glass protects it. It is heavier, it reflects, and a large one with real glass needs proper fixings.
Pick by the room
A wall that faces a window, or a room lit by spotlights, is a glare problem. Canvas wins there, or a framed print with anti-reflective glass, which costs more and is worth it above about 50 cm.
Kitchens and bathrooms have steam, fat and temperature swings. Framed prints cope because the glass seals the paper; a canvas absorbs moisture and can loosen on its stretcher. If you want the canvas look in a bathroom, an acrylic or aluminium print does the job and wipes clean, which is what the gallery labs such as WhiteWall mostly sell.
Rented flats and plasterboard walls favour anything light. A large canvas on one nail is far easier than a 70 by 100 cm framed print with glass, which wants two fixings and ideally a rail.
Anywhere you will look at the picture up close, a hallway or above a desk, the detail of a framed print shows. Canvas texture is at its best from across a room.
Pick by the picture
Photographs with texture already in them, landscapes, skin, fabric, sit well on canvas. Graphic posters, typography, line art and anything with small type look better on paper behind glass, where every edge stays crisp. Black and white photography can go either way; a matte paper in a thin black frame is the classic, and a canvas of the same image reads more like a painting.
Sizes and the wrap
Canvas is sold by the outer size, and the wrap eats a few centimetres from each edge of your image. Keep faces and text away from the edges, or choose a mirrored or plain-colour wrap so nothing important disappears round the side. Framed prints are sold by paper size, and a mat adds width, so a 50 by 70 print in a mat can hang as a 60 by 80 frame.
Where to buy
Canvas is the cheapest big print you can put on a wall, and the price differences between services are mostly stretcher quality and the thickness of the bars. Bestecanvas in the Netherlands and Myposter in Germany both do the standard cotton canvas at consumer prices. Framed prints range from a poster in a light frame at PosterXXL or Myposter to a museum-grade framed photo at WhiteWall or Saal Digital. If you already have frames, order the paper print alone and use what you have; it is the cheapest route to a wall that looks considered.