How to Light Your Artwork at Home or Office

One question we often hear from our collectors here at Shreve Fine Art Gallery is, “How do I light my new artwork?” This is a topic close to our hearts here at the gallery since we want every Robert Shreve image to look its very best in every home.  Because the lighting of a piece is so vital to one’s enjoyment of the artwork, we wanted to take a deep dive into the various lighting options you can utilize in your home or office as you display your painting.

Recommended Ceiling-Mounted Lighting Fixtures

The most common way to effectively light artwork is to install a ceiling fixture which focuses on an individual painting. Most fixtures allow you to use the bulb type of your choice, so you are free to use the fixture that most aligns with the aesthetics of your home. When you point the bulb at the painting, focus on highlighting the center of attention within the painting.

If you are hanging a favorite piece in your home or office for an extended period, ceiling-mounted fixtures are an excellent way to light up you’re painting.

Ceiling Light Placement

Correctly placing your fixture is essential to getting the most out of your product. Install ceiling lights so that the light has an angle of about 30°- 45° to the artwork. If the fixture is placed too directly overhead, you will have harsh shadows down the painting. If the light angle is too flat, then you will get unpleasant glare off the art.

If the ceiling is very high, then you’ll also want to get a bulb with higher wattage and narrow beam to compensate for the longer distance. A 10° bulb will light a 30”x 30” painting when mounted on a 20-foot ceiling.

The Color Rendering Index (CRI)

CRI is a scale from 0 to 100 percent indicating how accurate a given light source is at rendering color when compared to a reference light source. The higher the CRI, the better the color rendering ability. You want the light to bring out the art’s true color. Light sources with a CRI of 90 or higher are considered best at color rendering.

Color Temperature

Color temperature is a number assigned to a light bulb that tells you how warm (yellow) or cool (blue) the light is. Color temperature is measured in degrees of Kelvin (K) on a scale from 1,000 to 10,000. Light with a color temperature below 3500K will look warm, while a color temperature that is higher than 4000K results in cool tint.

For homes lit in warm white, we recommend a lighting color temperature of 3000K to 3500K for your art. For homes illuminated in cool-white, we recommend a lighting color temperature of 4000K for your pieces. We use 3000K Soraa LED and Cree LED bulbs at The Shreve Fine Art Gallery.

Additional Technical Specifications

There are several other technical specifications to consider when choosing bulbs. For example, the bulb must plug into the fixture properly. This means you must find a base that works with the fixture you have purchased.

Additionally, the beam spread of the bulb determines how wide a circle of light your bulb will produce. The beam spread is measured as an angle (in degrees). A 25° bulb in a ceiling-mounted fixture will light a medium-sized painting of around 40”x 40”. A 10° bulb will light a petite painting brilliantly.

 

As the beam widens, the intensity of light decreases. So, when lighting larger paintings, we recommend setting two or three separate lights on the piece, rather than purchasing a wider beam bulb.

  

Recommended Bulbs

There is a wide selection of bulbs available, and the type you purchase will depend on base, wattage, and size as it relates to your existing fixture. However, we cannot end our light bulb segment without providing two of the bulbs we most highly recommend:

Soraa Bulbs – Dimmable, Various Spreads

Cree Bulbs – Dimmable, Various Spreads

Properly lighting your art will allow you to enjoy the Art as the artist intended. We hope this lighting “how to” has provided you with all the knowledge you need to illuminate the stunning work in your collection to its greatest advantage.