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Lighting and glare for framed art
To reduce glare on framed art behind glass, tilt a picture light or downlight about 30 degrees (Lutron and Frame It Easy), keep it off direct window light, and prefer LED, which NEDCC says emits no UV or infrared. Direct sunlight is about 30,000 lux, against 50 to 150 lux for most museum materials shown for three to four months (NEDCC says light-sensitive items such as watercolours need lower).
Light levels from the NEDCC leaflet, drawn on a log scale. The exhibition range is a conservation figure for works on paper and similar items, not a rule for a home print.
Lamp types
| Lamp | What the sources say | Source |
|---|---|---|
| LED | Emits no UV or infrared and gives off little heat from the light itself | NEDCC |
| Halogen | Good spectrum but a lot of heat, hot casings; needs a UV-filtering lens | NEDCC, Lutron |
| Older incandescent | Avoided for art | Lutron |
| Spotlight position | Do not train a spotlight directly on an object; keep art away from sunlit windows and skylights | NEDCC, CCI |
Geometry and glass
| Point | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Angle for art behind glass | About 30 degrees | Lutron, Frame It Easy |
| Picture light above the art | 5 to 7 in above (framed photos) | Frame It Easy |
| Textured paintings | Closer fixtures cast more shadow; use the maker's spec sheet | Lutron |
| Near a window or door | Use a non-glare cover; a non-glare plastic cover softens colour so suits low-colour pieces | Frame It Easy |
| UV | Frame behind glazing that filters UV; keep away from spotlights and radiators | CCI (works on paper) |
Light dose in hours
NEDCC says low light for long periods does as much damage as high light for short periods, so exposure adds up as lux times hours. On that basis one hour at the lux shown equals this many hours at the 150 and 50 lux ends of the exhibition range (our arithmetic).
| Exposure | Lux | Equals hours at 150 lux | Equals hours at 50 lux |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour in direct sunlight | 30,000 | 200 hours | 600 hours |
| 1 hour under 400 lux office lighting | 400 | 2.7 hours | 8 hours |
These figures describe museum collections, mostly works on paper, and are not a pass or fail test for a home print. Plastic (acrylic) glazing is mentioned by Frame It Easy; ArtzFolio acrylic is coming soon and is not offered today.
Sources
- NEDCC leaflet 2.4: protection from light damage (fetched 2026-11-12)
- Lutron: how to light artwork (lighting manufacturer) (fetched 2026-11-12)
- Frame It Easy: lighting for framed photos (framing retailer) (fetched 2026-11-12)
- Canadian Conservation Institute: basic care, works of art on paper (fetched 2026-11-12)
Figures from these pages are paraphrased; each page was fetched and read on 2026-11-12. Where two sources differ, both are shown. Conservation lux figures are scoped to museum collections.