Several years ago when we developed lighting for restaurant departments, we did not imagine that one of the clients who were going to come to us would be painters and artists of different kinds. Although on closer inspection, it makes a lot of sense.
The lighting requirements in an artistic works restoration department are very specific and we have studied them very well.
An art restorer, above all, needs visual comfort. He requires that the light with which he works does not generate glare, and that the light intensity values are high so as not to strain his eyes more than necessary.
On the other hand, we have color reproduction, which must be as high as possible. Being able to correctly distinguish colors is not within the reach of any luminaire or light source. A fluorescent tube, no matter how good its quality, does not overshadow a continuous spectrum LED, which is currently capable of offering a practically perfect level of fidelity. This is crucial when carrying out work that requires skill and precision, such as a chromatic reintegration in a pictorial work.
What does the artist require?
Art knows no limits in terms of materials and techniques. The plastic arts have at their disposal practically any material that the artist is capable of manipulating. It is true that a sculptor who works welding and bending metals will require good illuminance, but he may not need high color reproduction given the nature of his work.
However, a painter must have the best lighting and color reproduction performance, which allows him to make his mixtures and differentiate colors appropriately.
In this order of ideas, it is logical that a painter seeks to obtain adequate lighting that makes his work easier, with features that do not restrict him to working only during hours with good natural lighting, but rather that his artificial lighting sources have qualities analogous to those of the sun.
Some artists have trusted us for the lighting of their artistic workshops. Like the one on the cover image of this article, the artist Jesús Miguel Rodriguez de La Torre, whose work you can see at this link. Jesús Miguel has a beautiful studio lost somewhere in the Sierra de Jaén, which now enjoys the best lighting values that an artificial luminaire is capable of providing.
Our spectral sensitivity range has its peak in the center of the graph, therefore, these two previous spectra are indistinguishable to the human eye. In the process, we get rid of UV and IR radiation, which is harmful to many of the materials with which artists work.