inexpensive room treatment options

I find paintings to be terrible at the reflection points. Canvas may be good at absorption, but oil paint on canvas is just as bad as a bare wall. Maybe you are into modern minimalist art and are staring at a blank unpainted canvas with just a signature in the corner? Said with my best euro bohemian coice "It is the artists interpretation of the difference between audio cables or maybe the effect of a PowerSnake Hydra on the background."

Damn, I screwed up my attempt at humor once again. That should be "voice".

Metaphysic's: The majority of our art is Haitian and the canvas grain though covered with acrylic paint (except on very old pieces which are oil) is still clearly visible. I disagree that this treatment is not superior to bare wall (dry wall in our case) as I have experimemeted with well over 50 paintings VS bare wall in this room, including having entire walls bared for repair and new paint. This may not be a typical room in that most of the wall space (75%) is covered by books and or art (even the doors).