Effects of light source spectrum and background colour on the perception of paintings

This paper presents an experiment on the effect of light on the perception of paintings. The experiment was performed in a test-room where a typical museum exhibition set-up was simulated. Two different paintings were shown to 44 participants, under different light scenes obtained by using tuneable LED (Light Emitting Diode) wallwashers. To set the light scenes, the following parameters were modified: correlated colour temperature of the lighting, illuminance on the painting and the colour of the background wall. Participants answered a questionnaire to assess the perception of the paintings’ colours, the lighting conditions and the pleasantness of the exhibition set-up. The results demonstrated that illuminance is the parameter mainly affecting perception, for both paintings. However, correlated colour temperature and wall colour, as well as the combination of the three different considered parameters, can more or less influence perception depending on the chromatic composition of the painting.