Recently, my mother in law came to visit and, like any good residents of the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, we took her to visit the Getty. Having never been to the museum ourselves, we found that there was a lot to learn for us too. Both myself and my mother in law were fascinated with the lighting structure in the top floor galleries of all the Getty buildings. The Getty uses the best kind or solar lights: the kind that comes right from the sun! The ceilings of the Getty museum have special light fixtures with mirrors in them that direct the sunlight onto the artwork, and adjust throughout the day in order to perfectly light each piece based on the amount of sunlight available.

Although I don’t have nearly the budget that the Getty has, I like for the artwork in my house to be well lit. Usually, I’m a big fan of Pendant Lighting but in terms of lighting artwork with it, pendants are really difficult to focus and aim. For lighting artwork, I prefer to use lamps and light fixtures that can be focused and angled in order to highlight the surfaces of the piece in the exact way that you want, and no other.

With lighting household artwork, there is a thin line between tasteful and crypt keeper. Only the most extreme decorating schemes can pull off official museum lighting plans like contrasting up and down lighting. In the average house, artwork is lit best with understated accent lighting rather than elaborate plans. The focus of a museum is the artwork, but the focus of your home should be you. Don’t stress out if every piece isn’t perfectly lit, your guest are there to visit you, not your art.

There are some great places online to find the kinds of lamps I’ve been writing about in this article as well as the perfect light you need for any other part of your house at http://www.eco-furniture.com. For lamps specifically, http://www.eco-lights.com/lamps.php is a good link, and http://www.eco-lights.com/wall-lighting.php is a great place for wall sconces.