Against plaster, the deep red reads less sweet, more deliberate. The checkerboard does the heavy lifting here, so a plain wall is all you need behind it. Put it up and a quiet corner suddenly has a focal point: the pale bird lifts the eye up, the dark squares hold the bottom of the wall steady. It sits well above a chest of drawers, in a hallway, or on a narrow strip of wall between doors. Pair it with dark wood, cane seating, cream linen and one checked or striped cushion so the pattern feels intentional. Don’t hang it on patterned wallpaper, and skip a busy grid of small pieces around it this one needs breathing room. As canvas the painted surface reads softer, closer to an original.