Lighting art in homes, galleries, and museums

The white cube, mostly used to light Conceptual or Contemporary Art, creates a uniformly illuminated space and provides a neutral background across different themes. It can used to display several works as a single unit with wallwashing. This provide the ideal neutral background for paintings; the artwork and the room are equal in terms of perception hierarchy and lighting treatment. In contrast to accent lighting, the lighting doesn’t need to change if picture arrangements or formats change.

Neutral exhibition spaces in white support the factual and objective communication of art and brings out the colours of the art. Curators avoid emphasising individual artworks as special attractions with the aim of achieving a uniform presentation. Exhibits and the room gain equal weighting and appear as a single unit.

Minimal Accenting adds subtle accent lighting to wallwashing and ambient lighting, removing the almost clinical feel of the White Cube without being dramatic. This approach works with bright natural light but subtly emphasizes individual works and textures. The subtle use of contrasting Colour temperatures also differentiates the Artwork from the background. Very commonly used with historic museums lighting classic art.

Minimal accent also lights sculpture better than the White Cube with the softer and more emotive lighting method.

Dramatic accenting places more focus on the artwork, creating a more intense observation of art. The rich contrasts of light and shadow are used to create a theatrical effect. In this Gallery type, only Accent lighting is used, and it is often used in darker underground galleries or in Architecture with very little to no natural light. In terms of Art and the space, Artworks are placed in the foreground.

This lighting technique Is used often to accent sculptures or antiquities. It is also often used in exhibitions with a spiritual/ religious content or themes themes of desolation and war to create an aura of solumity.

The Hyperrealism of the Black Box creates a Cinematographic Gallery space where the art is intensified and the room seems to disappear. It is the complete opposite of the White cube. The walls are black and the artworks are precisely accented with the use of contour framing spotlights to create the effect that the artworks are magically illuminated from within. It is used in the interpretion of artworks with hyperrealism themes, or cinematic and photographic works. It is also used in Conservation Lighting of highly sensitive artworks.

This gallery type is applied to dark spaces with no natural light, with dark to Black walls with very low reflectance properties so the background disspappears. This way, the brightness and colours of the art are intensified

For Immersive galleries, Ambient wall washing with RGBW spotlights or recessed wall washing downlights and accenting with RGBW spotlights immerse the viewer in a coloured light experience. It can create atmospheric presentations of art and enhance exhibitions and installations.

Often used in gallery spaces with no natural light, this method allows you to colour walls of exhibition spaces rather than paint the walls.