For the summer season -- I hang watercolors of European marketplaces. The wide white mat really helps bring a "cooler" tone to the room. In the fall and winter -- usually an old portrait or two hangs in the room.

I love botanicals (old or at least vintage-in-appearance) of all sorts (bird eggs, nests, flowers, herbs etc.) Hung in a group or grid pattern!

Also still lifes of fruit, veg are wonderful! Although at times throughout Europe -- art could feature dead birds, fish or animals -- those works do not appeal to me! :)

Also landscapes can bring a wonderful sense of "vista" to a 2-D wall too! :)

Here's a link to one of my fav artists -- 18th century French artist -- Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin ....

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Here is a link that might be useful: art.com -- Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin artworks

Another favorite artist -- with some wonderful artworks!

Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Here is a link that might be useful: art.com -- Nicole Etienne artworks

I love your new dinnerware. I don't think it matters so much as to what the subject matter is but you will want to keep the same look going on through out the room. In other words unite color vs. pattern. I don't think you need too much. Along with furniture and area rug, a large mirror, lighting and candle sticks will go a long way. Do you have pictures? Sounds very pretty so far.

How about these city plans in black-and-white to work with your new china?

Jan

Here is a link that might be useful: art.com -- city plans in black and white

You may want to do pastoral scenes because of your dinnerware.

You could do both old and new. I would mix a little more modern in. I would bring in a third color, red, lime green ect. in small doses and then add more black and white pattern, maybe a harlequin pattern or checks. I think a polished nickle or mercury glass anything would look great. It really does depend on the look you want and the look of the rest of your house.

Thanks for the responses so far - I'm in the middle of a project due tomorrow, but couldn't resist logging on to check in. Will check out the links you provided ASAP.

While I was looking through possibilities earlier today I was wondering if food-related paintings seemed fitting, but maybe redundant. If we're eating fish chowder do we want to be looking at fruit, etc.

There was a nice oil painting of a yellow flower w/a dark background (goes w/ my dishes) but there was a bee hovering over it...would an insect in the picture bother some people eating dinner.

I'm getting a new piece to replace a landscape w/ trees that I've had in the same spot that was nice enough, but it's a print I've seen everywhere. Since a goal was to personalize the space, I want something more original.

Please add more suggestions if any come to mind.

There is not one thing that I particularly like for a dining room. I love stuff that makes me smile when I look at it.

Along with some furniture my grandparents gave me, I have some cute plates I fell in love with, a huge old mirror I found in the garage at our last house, a print my mom gave me that depicts an era I love, an architectural piece we bought on our honeymoon with a big spray of faux forsythia (makes me think of home, I can't find it in bloom here), and another fancier mirror my husband bought for me. All things with a connection, so I say go for that look :) You'll feel good when you go in there!

Don't worry overly much about the content. Odds are, what you like to look at will be pretty acceptable to your guests.

I tend to do anything other than food in a "food room" like a dining room just because it's so... expected. I will admit, however, to having a little funky oil painting of a coffee cup in my kitchen. But a still life with fruit? Not for me. Landscapes, yes. I like the idea of sitting down to eat and facing an interesting landscape. When our dining room was a dining room, I had 2 landscapes in there. Now it's a dining/library room and there's not much wall space, but I have a small painting of a house on one wall, and, uh, a silver deer head that's actually a Christmas decoration on another narrow slice of wall. Put it up for the holidays, and couldn't bring myself to put it away when it was post-holiday cleanup time.

If I were you, I'd keep looking til you find something that you love, and don't worry too much about the subject matter. Maybe it's a painting of a cow. Or a sofa. Or a flower garden... whatever it is, you'll probably know it when you see it.

There is not one thing that I particularly like for a dining room. I love stuff that makes me smile when I look at it.

I feel the same way. I want my artwork to evoke feelings and don't have anything in my house just because it "matches" something else. In my dining room I have a couple of large paintings - one of a woman selling mangos, one of the back of a woman wearing a brilliantly-colored Spanish shawl, paintings of a Navajo man holding a cup of coffee, portrait of a Mexican man wearing a sombrero, painting of a crow, painting of a courtyard in Santa Fe, painting of cactus, painting of horses, vintage photographs of Native Americans ... these are all things that bring back travel or other associative memories for me. I definitely don't think artwork has to be expensive or exclusive, but for me, it must be personally meaningful.

I also will hang any art that I love in my dining room. The dining room always seems such a good place to hang great art as there is the time and opportunity to enjoy it while eating.
Personally I like all the art pieces in any room to relate to each other in some way. Also I tend to hang more detailed pictures in the dining room than in the foyer for example (where people are just passing through and a more simple but dramatic picture seems to work better).

Think about the feeling you want in the room when you're in it.
I always have a big mirror somewhere, because it adds sparkle and throws candlelight around. I've also used mirrored candle sconces on the walls for the same reason. Then I like something that gives a sense of warmth, of abundance, of festivity...something that contributes liveliness to dinner parties - and family dinners, too.
My first choice has always been to have one great big old romantic Italian painting of plump, laughing people lolling about, eating fruit and tearing up bread and drinking wine, but since the good ones cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and the cheesy ones are...well...cheesy, I have never actually had one! So I content myself with botanicals - big ones, with warmth and color in the pictures and big mats and frames to give them plenty of room.