The results of the Department of Energy’s second Gateway study say that people prefer artwork illuminated with LEDs rather than artwork with halogen lighting. The DOE replaced 50-90-watt halogen lighting with 12-watt LED PAR38 lamps in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon. The new LED system in the gallery uses only 14% of the energy used by the halogens, and also lasts 10 times longer. In another gallery close by, another experiment confirmed people prefer LEDs. At the Gordon Gilkey Study Center Gallery, clusters of art pieces, including an oil painting, a black and white photographic print, and a checkered-color car, were placed on a grey wall. Each cluster was illuminated with one of four lamps. One group was lit with halogens, and the others were lit with LEDs with different color temperatures. Artists, museum staff, and visitors all preferred the LED lighting, and visitors commented on the way the LED lighting accented the blue colors in the artwork.
In the first Gateway study, 54 12-watt PAR38 LED lamps were installed in the Coeta and Donald Barker Special Exhibitions Gallery, along with 15- and 23-watt CFLs and 90-watt halogen PAR38 lamps. They concluded the LED light was much better quality and used much less energy.
