Lighting for galleries

How to use gallery lighting to help sell art

Engagement with collectors is one of the critical aspects for galleries. In every exhibition light is a versatile tool to attract clients and convert them into art buyers. Gallery lighting from ERCO gives you the freedom to build up a relationship with potential buyers and to concentrate on your core business: developing your gallery programme, exhibiting art, and selling it.

It is well known that the eye follows brightness. But light not only directs attention, it also creates a relaxing environment for a purchasing decision. Therefore it is essential to talk about light and not luminaires when developing a gallery lighting concept. For appealing storytelling, perfect light quality and flexibility are key. Flexibility does not only mean that spotlights in the track system can be repositioned and light distribution or light colour can be changed. To support the commercial aspect of your gallery business, it also means that these changes can be implemented at any time and quickly.

Gallery lighting: use light as a red carpet

Inviting reception of an art gallery – thanks to perfect gallery lighting.

Kasmin Gallery, New York City

Encourage more people into your gallery
Make light part of your corporate identity. Used consciously, a lighting concept reflects the central theme of your exhibition programme. It not only offers the flexibility to tailor the exhibition lighting to individual artists or works of art, but also accompanies the entire sales process. For instance, by taking over the function of the red carpet and encouraging visitors to explore your gallery - not only at a vernissage but also during your regular opening hours.

Gallery lighting: Pleasant atmosphere for a conversation between gallery owner and prospective art buyer.

Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem

Engage with potential art buyers
Reach your audience with lighting perfectly matched to the exhibition concept. Whether you present art in a white cube, a black box or as an immersive experience - the principles of human visual perception are always the same. And perfect visual comfort is the key. That's why we talk about light and not about luminaires when being asked for consultation.

Perfect gallery lighting makes it easier for customers to make a purchase decision.

Virág Judit Gallery, Budapest

Help buyers to make a choice
A perfect art experience values the artwork and the artist and promotes the purchase decision. For this reason, every work of art deserves the highest museum-quality lighting. We offer you our experience from many thousands of museum and gallery projects worldwide to find the perfect lighting for your gallery.

Which lighting best suits your gallery?

Planning aid for 3 ways of illuminating art

Download planning aid for "Illuminate uniformly"

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Download planning aid for "Illuminate uniformly"

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Download planning aid for "Illuminate accentuated"

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Download planning aid for "Illuminate accentuated"

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Download planning aid for "Illuminate Sharp-edged"

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Download planning aid for "Illuminate Sharp-edged"

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Uniform wallwashing, for example, creates a factual and objective setting. Exhibits and the room gain equal weighting and appear as a single unit. In addition, wallwashing visually enlarges the dimensions of a space. Smaller galleries in particular thus gain in visible volume. You can tell good vertical lighting by its perfect uniformity, even when luminaires are positioned further apart.

Accent lighting emphasises individual works of art. The contrast to the surroundings creates hierarchies of perception, and in this way directs the viewer's attention. The correct angle of incidence of the light must be observed so that viewers do not shade a work of art themselves. As a rule, this is 30° from the vertical. Luminaires with interchangeable lenses or adjustable zoom optics are ideal for matching the angle of incidence precisely to the size of the artwork.

Art that seems to shine from within itself: contour spotlights illuminate the exhibits with a sharply defined cone of light. Backgrounds, such as a wall, remain in the dark in this way. Depending on the design of the optics, contour spotlights allow large paintings to be illuminated from a short distance (wide framing) or small rectangular beams of light to be projected at a long distance (narrow framing).

Museum-quality light

ERCO only uses highest quality LEDs to ensure perfect colour rendition and to protect art from UV radiation. Our precise optics direct light only where it is needed.

Tool-free mounting

Simply mount and reposition your luminaires in the track without additional tools. This makes even last-minute changes possible.

Interchangeable lenses

From a 6-degree beam to variable zoom lenses with round and oval light distribution as well as wallwashers and framing optics – ERCO offers all light distributions as interchangeable accessories.

Perfectly matched colour impression

Match the light colour of your gallery lighting perfectly to the art with for example Tunable White or RGBW light, even to make white light. No matter which hue you choose, the colour rendition always remains equally good.

Wireless control

Balance the gallery lighting intuitively with Casambi Bluetooth: luminaires with exchangeable add-on control units even allow you to switch between control types at a later date.

Extensive range of accessories

Realise different exhibition concepts with a small pool of luminaires. With interchangeable lenses and accessories such as anti-glare shields and louvres, you can model the light distribution again and again according to your requirements.

How can we support you?

ERCO lighting specialists are available to help you make choices, save time and develop the optimum viewing conditions for your exhibitions to inspire potential art collectors.

Selected projects

1x1 Gallery, Dubai
Adam's Auctioneers, Dublin
Adelia Art Gallery, Liverpool
Agra Art Auction House, Warsaw
Anna Bohman Gallery, Stockholm
Aquabumps Art Gallery, Sydney
ARARIO Gallery, Shanghai
Art Partners galleria, Tampere
Arthouse Gallery, Sydney
Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Wijnegem
BANGKOK CITY GALLERY, Bangkok
BÁV ART Gallery and Auction House, Budapest
Björkholmen Gallery, Stockholm
Blak Dot Art Gallery, Melbourne
Bonhams, Dublin
Bonhams, London
C/O Berlin, Berlin
Capitain Petzel, Berlin
Carpenters Workshop, Los Angeles
Cermak Eisenkraft Gallery, Prague
Chemould Art Gallery, Mumbai
Chichester Gallery, Chichester
Christie's rue de Ponthieu, Paris
Claridges Gallery, London
Crayon Art Gallery, Delhi
David Zwirner, New York City
David Zwirner, Paris
Dirimart Art Gallery, Istanbul
Dom Aukcyjny Polswiss Art, Warsaw
Enari Gallery, Amsterdam
Esther Schipper, Berlin
EXPO 58 Art Gallery, Prague
Falsterbo Konsthall, Falsterbo
Forsblom Gallery, Helsinki
FOUNDRY SEOUL, Seoul
Francis Gallery, Bath
Gagosian Roma, Roma
Gagosian, Paris
Galería Albarrán Bourdais, Madrid
Galería Carles Taché, Barcelona
Galería CarrerasMugica, Bilbao
Galería Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca
Galería Senda, Barcelona
Galerie Artziwna, Vienna
Galerie Binome, Paris
Galerie Bottega Barone, Berlin
Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
Galerie Charles-Wesley Hourdé, Paris
Galerie Deletaille, Amsterdam
Galerie Deschler, Berlin
Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris
Galerie Estades Toulon, Toulon
Galerie Frey, Salzburg
Galerie Jacques Lacoste, Paris
Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris
Galerie Judin, Berlin
Galerie Kokanas, Marseille
Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris
Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin
Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam
Galerie Schütz, Vienna
Galerie Templon, Paris
Galerie Volker Diehl, Berlin
Galerij Templon, Brussels
Galleri Final, Malmö
Galleri Loyal, Stockholm
Galleria Carlo Orsi, Milano
Galleria d'Arte D'Amato, Napoli
Galleria d'Arte Giacometti - Napoli, Napoli
Galleria De Cotis, Milano
Galleria K, Vantaa
Galleria Lorcan O'Neill, Roma
Galleria Privata Caruso, Milazzo
Galleria Salamon Fine Art, Milano
Galleria Tommaso Calabro, Milano
Galleria Tonelli Ceriani, Milano
Galleria Tonelli Ceriani, Milano
Galleria Trisorio, Capri
Gallery Daisy, Jeju
Gallery Delaive, Amsterdam
Gallery of Photography, Dublin
Green Art Gallery, Dubai
GRIMM Gallery, Amsterdam
Gullotti Galleries, Perth

Hatch Art Project, Singapore
Hauser & Wirth, Bruton
Hauser & Wirth, Menorca
Hauser + Wirth, New York City
Hermann Noack, Berlin
In The Pink, Loulé
James Cohan, New York City
JEAN DESIGNART, Seoul
Jiesiyuan gallery, Shanghai
John Hansard Gallery, Southhampton
Johyun Gallery, Busan
Kallos Gallery, London
Kasmin Gallery, New York City
Katie Lindsay, Killyleagh
Ken Done art Gallery, Sydney
Kieselbach Gallery and Auction House, Budapest
King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
König Galerie, Berlin
Krazy Art Gallery, Milano
Kunsthalle Art Galley, Prague
Kunsthandel P. De Boer, Amsterdam
Kwai Fung Hin Gallery, Hong Kong
La Galerie du 19M, Paris
Lanzarote Art Gallery, Lanzarote
Lawrie Shababi, Dubai
Leica par Muro, Saintes
Lemon Street Gallery, Truro
Levy Gorvy, Hong Kong
Lia Rumma, Milano
LISSON Gallery, Shanghai
London Glass Blowing, London
Lullo Pampoulides, London
Lyons Gallery, Melbourne
Magnus Karlsson Gallery, Stockholm
Maruani Mercier, Brussels
Maruani Mercier, Knokke
Matt's Gallery, London
Maurice Verbaet Gallery, Knokke
Melrose Gallery, Los Angeles
Mia Karlova, Amsterdam
Miriam di Penta Fine Arts, Roma
New Kensington Gallery, London
Nino Mier Gallery, New York City
Olivier Malingue gallery, London
OTA Fine Arts, Singapore
Over The Influence Gallery
Over The Influence Gallery, Hong Kong
Over the Influence, Paris
Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
Pace Gallery, New York City
Pash & Sons, London
PERROTIN DOSAN PARK, Seoul
Perrotin Gallery in Shanghai, Shanghai
Pintér Gallery and Auction House, Budapest
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Sanchit art Gallery, Delhi
Sculptor Gallery, Helsinki
Selasar Sunaryo Art Space
Shoreditch Gallery, London
Shout Gallery, Hong Kong
Smith and Singer, Sydney
Soho Revue, London
Sotheby’s, Beverly Hills
Sprüth Magers, Berlin
Studio Helnwein, Clonmel
Tabari Art Space, Dubai
Tarq Gallery, Mumbai
Tatra Car Museum, Prague
Thaddaeus Ropac Seoul
The Yard Gallery, Holywood
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
tm-galleria, Helsinki
Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi
Valokuvagalleria Hippolyte, Helsinki
Valokuvakeskus Nykyaika, Tampere
Vanner Gallery, Salisbury
Växjö Konsthall, Växjö
Vedovi Gallery, Brussels
Virág Judit Gallery, Budapest
Waddington Custot, London
Warwick Street Gallery, London
White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney
Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Yeo Workshop, Singapore

Discover further tools, tips and inspiration for your gallery lighting

Learn more about exciting lighting concepts for galleries, be inspired by best-practice projects or select precisely the right luminaires for your next project.

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How to use gallery lighting to help sell art

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Gallery lighting: use light as a red carpet

Which lighting best suits your gallery?

ERCO projects

Kasmin Gallery, New York City

Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York

Galerie Levy, Hamburg

Forsblom Gallery, Helsinki

f22 photo gallery, Hong Kong

Vigo Gallery, London

Galerie Koenig, Berlin

Whitestone Gallery, Taipei

Greene Naftali Gallery, New York

Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York

Anna Marra Contemporanea Gallery, Rome

Galerie Fergus McCaffrey, New York

Vigo Gallery, London

Gallery lighting planning aid

Ideal luminaire arrangements for art galleries

The benefit of ERCO lighting solutions

Museum-quality light

Tool-free mounting

Interchangeable lenses

Perfectly matched colour impression

Wireless control

Extensive range of accessories

How can we support you?

ERCO lighting specialists are available to help you make choices, save time and develop the optimum viewing conditions for your exhibitions to inspire potential art collectors.

Select a service:

Your contact data:

Selected projects

Discover further tools, tips and inspiration for your gallery lighting

Learn more about exciting lighting concepts for galleries, be inspired by best-practice projects or select precisely the right luminaires for your next project.

ERCO Lichtbericht magazine

Designing light: Culture

Luminaires for track

Energy check for gallery lighting

Products

Projects

Downloads

Planning light

About ERCO

Contact

Inspiration