How to Light Artwork
How to Light Artwork When purchasing a piece of art, you probably have an idea of where it will go in your home, office or business. What you might not have thought of, however, is whether or not the lighting in that place was appropriate for the painting. You wouldn’t want to get home and hang your beautiful new painting, only to see it a little differently than you did in the art gallery because of the lighting in your house. Glare from natural light, shadows and poor quality room lighting can very negatively affect the way your painting looks, and even how the painting ages. These concerns can be easily fixed with the consideration of some key factors and a little planning. LEDs are the Way To Go Think of the lighting that already exists in the room, first. Incandescent and halogen light bulbs are not only less energy-efficient, they also give off a heat that can be dangerous and harmful to artwork. . And generally speaking florescent bulbs produce very poor quality light for viewing art. LED lights – unlike incandescent, florescent and halogen lights – don’t give off infrared or ultraviolet rays which can actually damage your painting over time. Make sure that the light on the paintings is from an LED-type of bulb for the best results, but make sure it’s a good quality light. LED lights that are lower-quality will make you feel like you are looking at artwork in a dressing room or dentist’s office. Try to get LED lights with a minimum color-rendering index of 90+ this is close to the sun’s CRI, which is 100. The color temperature of the light is also important, lower color temperature [...]
