Should I bin my friend's art?

[Joyjazz]

My friend painted me a picture. The sentiment was lovely but I really hate it. It's not my taste and not in keeping with my house. I keep it behind the TV and hang it whenever she comes to visit so I don't hurt her feelings as she is really proud of this piece and spent many weeks making it. I'm moving to a new house and I don't want to be carrying things that I don't like or want to my new home. I want to take the frame and bin the actual painting. She's a good friend and she is likely to visit and possibly ask where the art is.

AIBU to put the painting in the bin?

I paint but usually only give to people who ask for it. I have done specific art for friends. A couple I've painted churches that mean a lot. Seascapes are always popular. Those paintings were cherished. One lady even took it to her nursing home eventually. Not huge paintings though. And I always say don't feel you need to hang them because art is personal.

I'd put it away. If she mentions it just say you haven't got around to putting it up. I doubt she'll mention it I wouldn't. It'd be a bit arrogant imo

If you have a spare room, hang it in there?

I don't care if it's Phoebe's from Friends, the picture is genuinely horrible to hang on a wall. If the OP liked it, more power to her. But she doesn't, she's playing hang the picture when the friend comes to see her, and make it disappear when she's gone.

I don't understand why it's so difficult to say to the friend "sorry, I didn't pack it well and got really damaged. It wasn't my style anyway, I love you but I prefer to choose my own pictures"

Some of you have serious problems with boundaries.

They may have needed the money, divorced, or one spouse died.
I sold a wedding gift painting when my husband died less than two years after our wedding; I just didn't want it in the house.

How do you know the picture is genuinely horrible if you haven’t seen it?

That makes me feel a bit better. I was in this exact situation with an ENORMOUS painting given to me by a friend. It was a portrait of me with a boyfriend who turned out to be a psychopath. In the end, I had a big bonfire with it 😈

The OP posted a picture on page 1.

That was a joke from a different poster. It's from Friends, when this same scenario happened in the plot.

I do struggle to believe OP's piece is worse than Gladys!

No she didn’t.

This thread is wild.

I'd just give it back to her, my dad painted a picture and gave it to me and I hung it on my wall for a while but when I downsized I simply gave it back and said I think this will look better on your wall as I don't have anywhere for it.
No offence was taken and it looks great in his dining room.
He would have been upset if I threw it in the bin though.

I’ve made artworks for people (some they commissioned and paid for) - tbh I wouldn’t even notice whether they were up or not. If I did notice then I definitely wouldn’t say anything - if she does ask, she’s a cheeky fucker for making you feel awkward, so don’t feel bad about making her feel awkward too. Just say you’re decorating this house in a different style and putting up some new pics. Ask if she wants it back. If she loves it so much then expect to see it in pride of place at her house next time you visit and if it isn’t then ask why, and act hurt that she hasn’t put it up immediately!

I would just store it in the attic or loft, and if she ever asks you can say you are waiting to find a good spot or some other feeble excuse.

Never throw art away- you never know, someone else might come across it in the attic when you are dead and think it's amazing! One person's rubbish is someone else's treasure and all that...

But if this is about boundaries, why include the white like saying it was damaged and then saying “But actually I didn’t like it anyway”? Surely that’s just adding insult to injury? It essentially translates to “The painting you worked hard on got badly damaged, but I couldn’t give a toss because it was terrible anyway”.

OP should either be upfront and say she’s not planning to hang it in the new house for whatever reason (too big, wants a change of style etc.) OR invent damage in the move - not both!

I was going to suggest giving it back saying it didn't fit with the new house, then realised she might paint another and you'd be stuck again.

I'd feign ignorance, I'd she asks where it is in the new house, say oh no, I can't remember unpacking it, those darn movers they also misplaced x and y.

Apologies, I thought it was her picture. The OP did say when a poster asked "if the artwork was better or worse than the one from Friends", that she believed it was worse. Which is damming enough.

Fuck me sideways. No she didn’t. Another poster posted Gladys from Friends.

How do some people manage in real life?!

This place worries me sometimes.

Paint her one back. Hopefully she will be so distracted by wondering what to do with the horror you have painted that she will forget about hers, or she will understand the dilema of fitting artwork into a house.

😂

Excellent idea 😂
Or make some bad macrame!

@thistimelastweek no it isn't always all about them. Have you ever created/painted something for someone? Cooked a meal for friends? It's good to make people happy. Yes I agree some people are show offs but definitely not all.

Good friends should be honest to tell each other if they received a gift they don't like. I can't tell you the amount of times I said to a friend or a friend has said to me "were you drunk when you bought this for me?". It's said with love but also with a healthy dose of honesty. It's given us friends a good reward over the years -we know what we like and gifts are given for the recipient in mind, not the giver.

I didn't say the OP to tell her friend "she didn't like her picture anyway" I said to tell her friend the picture is not her style to prevent the possibility of her friend giving her another picture as a "house-warming" gift, as the OP appears terrified it'll happen.

She has the chance to make the awful painting disappear and be honest with her friend without hurting her feelings or getting another horrible picture as a gift if she isn't more honest.

I’ve seen Friends but it was 20 odd years ago (and it wasn’t that good, but we only had 4 channels back in the olden times)

If she’s not a professional artist I think it’s fine to dispose of it, I wouldn’t expect friends to hang my crappy efforts on their wall, but different if she’s actually professional but it’s just not to your taste!

I drew a picture and framed it as part of my sister's birthday gifts. It was in relation to her 'proper gift' that I'd bought. I told her it was to make her laugh, throw away and reuse the frame!

One of my DC gifted me a photo canvas. It absolutely does not go with my style of artwork! But I love the photo. I'll put it in the room DC stays in when they come to visit using command strips - then take it down again until next time 😂