How to make your TV look like a painting

Dreamy Kuwaiti Culture art on the screens in a Kuwaiti living room: a falcon release at a desert camp on the television, men around a board game in the diwaniya in the framed piece beside it, and Al Ardah on the open laptop

The short answer.

A black rectangle on the wall is the biggest thing in most rooms. In a diwaniya it is on the wall all day. Put art on it when nobody is watching and it stops being a screen.

Three things make it work:

  1. Art the right size. 3840 × 2160, 16:9, the shape and size of a 4K screen.
  2. Nothing on top of it. Turn off the clock, the weather and the photo info.
  3. Low and slow. Brightness down, and a slideshow set as slow as your TV allows. A painting does not glow and it does not flicker.

Samsung Frame

Built for this. Art Mode, a matte screen, and it shows your own pictures at no extra cost. Steps on my Samsung Frame guide.

LG

Newer LG TVs have Gallery+. Your own art comes in by USB, the LG ThinQ app or Google Photos. LG art mode, step by step.

Hisense CanvasTV

Art Mode and a matte screen. Your own art comes in by USB or from your phone. Hisense art mode, step by step.

Google TV

Put the pieces in a Google Photos album first, set to Original quality. Then:

  1. Settings → System → Ambient mode → Settings.
  2. Source → Google Photos. Approve it on your phone, or enter your Google Account PIN.
  3. Pick your album, then Confirm.
  4. Set Slideshow mode to Basic, so each piece fills the screen.
  5. Turn off the on-screen info.

Apple TV

Put the pieces in an album in Photos. On the Apple TV, open Photos, choose the album, then Set as Screen Saver. If it is a shared album, turn on Shared Albums first in Settings → Profiles and Accounts → your profile → Photos.

Fire TV

Put the pieces in an Amazon Photos album. Then Settings → Display & Sounds → Screensaver → Current Screensaver, and pick the album.

Roku

Open the Backdrops app, choose Add your photos, then Upload photos, and scan the code with your phone. It takes PNG, up to 20 photos per upload and 100 in an album.

Any other TV

Most TVs with a USB port can play photos from a stick. Your manual names the photo app.

The art

Every piece I make is 3840 × 2160 PNG, 16:9. Every collection is signed, comes with a certificate and the story behind it, and downloads the moment you pay. The files are yours. Put them on every screen you own.

See all the collections