Framed art gift guide

For pilots and aviation fans

Photographs of real aircraft tend to mean more to pilots than paintings of imaginary ones. The aviation gift guide runs from the Ford Trimotor of the 1920s through Second World War fighters such as the Tuskegee Airmen's Red Tails to the X-15 under its B-52 and the SR-71.

• Ford TrimotorUnknown photographer, 1929
• Red Tails over RamitelliU.S. Army Air Forces, 1945
• X-15 under the B-52NASA, c. 1962
• SR-71 over the mountainsUSAF / Judson Brohmer, 1994

For space fans

Earthrise, taken by Bill Anders from lunar orbit on Apollo 8 in December 1968, is the classic choice. For someone who follows the telescopes, Webb's Stephan's Quintet, one of its first images in July 2022, and its view of the Pillars of Creation from later that year are both striking at Large.

See the space race gift guide for Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, the Saturn V photographs for the rocket itself, and the Hubble and Webb and Earth from space collections.

• EarthriseNASA / Bill Anders, 1968
• Stephan's QuintetNASA / ESA / CSA / STScI, 2022
• Pillars of Creation, WebbNASA / ESA / CSA / STScI, 2022
• Blue Marble 2012NASA / Suomi NPP, 2012

For hikers and national park lovers

Albert Bierstadt painted Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada in the 1860s and 1870s, when few Americans had seen them for themselves. Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California, Sunrise, Yosemite Valley and Lake Tahoe in Winter are good gifts for anyone who has made the trip. The Yosemite paintings and mountain paintings collections have more.

• Looking Down Yosemite Valley, CaliforniaAlbert Bierstadt, 1865
• Sunrise, Yosemite ValleyAlbert Bierstadt, c. 1870
• Lake Tahoe in WinterAlbert Bierstadt, c. 1871

For sailors and beach house owners

Winslow Homer's Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) and The Fog Warning are about wind, weather and small boats, which tends to land with people who sail or fish. For a coastal house, Fitz Henry Lane's Boston Harbor, Sunset is calmer. The beach house gift guide has more ships, harbours and shorelines.

For someone who likes their sea rough, Ivan Aivazovsky's The Ninth Wave shows survivors clinging to a broken mast after a storm, under a glowing sky. It is a dramatic picture and needs a wall of its own, so it suits a living room or a study better than a bedroom.

• Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)Winslow Homer, 1873–76
• The Fog WarningWinslow Homer, 1885
• Boston Harbor, SunsetFitz Henry Lane, 1850–1855
• The Ninth WaveIvan Aivazovsky, 1850

For New Yorkers

Anyone who has lived in New York tends to have a favourite old view of it. Lunch atop a Skyscraper from 1932 is the famous one; the 1905 Flatiron Building and Berenice Abbott's Manhattan Bridge are less expected. All are in the New York City photographs collection.

• Lunch atop a SkyscraperCharles C. Ebbets, 1932
• Flatiron BuildingDetroit Publishing Co., 1905
• Manhattan BridgeBerenice Abbott, 1936

For history readers and the home office

For someone who reads American history, Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware is the classic, and Alexander Gardner's last portrait sitting of Abraham Lincoln and his cracked-plate Lincoln are real photographs from 1865. Beyond that, the World War II and ancient Rome collections are a good place to look. For a study, the office and study gift guide gathers thinkers, statesmen and inventors, from Raphael's The School of Athens to Franklin, Tesla and Einstein. If they love Italy rather than history, try the Venice and Italy guide.

• The School of AthensRaphael, 1509–1511
• The Entrance to the Grand Canal, VeniceCanaletto, c. 1730

For a new home

A housewarming gift is the hardest to personalise, because the rooms aren't finished yet. A landscape is the safest subject: a Hudson River School view such as Thomas Cole's View on the Catskill, Early Autumn or John Constable's The Hay Wain sits comfortably in almost any room. If the new home is somewhere specific, look for a picture of it: Yosemite and the Sierra, the New England coast, New York, Venice or Rome are all well covered in the collection.

Another option is to frame a photograph of the family's own: a wedding, a first trip or the house itself. Upload it on the Frame your photo page to have it printed and framed.

If the person has a favourite painting or photograph, search for it on the browse page before choosing something else; the collection holds more than a thousand works, each with its own page.

• View on the Catskill, Early AutumnThomas Cole, 1837
• The Hay WainJohn Constable, 1821

Picking a size when you don't know their walls

If you can't measure, Medium, with a 24-inch long side, is the safest gift: it fits over a dresser, a desk or a console and still holds its own on a bigger wall. Large needs a sofa-sized wall, so choose it only when you know there is one waiting. Small suits a desk, a hallway or a narrow wall beside a door.

Frame, timing and returns

Black Metallic, the default frame, goes with most rooms and suits photographs. The ornate antique-gold Wood Ornament frame is a good choice for a traditional home or a nineteenth-century painting.

Every print is framed to order, so allow 14 to 21 days for delivery, which is free within the US; we don't ship outside it. If the picture or the size turns out wrong, it can be returned by mail within 30 days of delivery for a refund, with the return shipping paid by the sender. For holiday ordering dates and more ideas by recipient, see the holiday gift page.