The photographs make the curves more elegant and proportions more pleasing than in real life. When we first unboxed it, I ran to computer to look at the photos again because I thought maybe we received the wrong item. Sadly, this is the correct lamp- a somewhat bloated and awkward piece that is going to cost $75 to ship back because the lamp and shade come in separate boxes. Nearly every light fixture in our home is from Visual Comfort due to their elegant aesthetics, high quality and attainable pricing. This lamp feels more like a knock-off than a quality piece. If we'd seen this lamp in person, we would never have purchased it. I'm not going to give it a one-star review because it isn't junk. It gets two-starts because it does seem to be well-made and it was packaged well.