Light: Visual comfort versus artwork health

Abstract

The lighting of museum exhibition’s spaces involves different areas of knowledge to guaranty the preservation of the master pieces as well as the good understanding of them by the spectator. This paper aims to study the impact of natural daylight in museum exhibition spatial areas particularly, the ones where natural light is the main lighting source remembering that exhibited works require a good conservation. From this awareness different questions emerge seeking the answer to the previous question: How to balance our individual understanding of a master piece and its integrity? Would a replica be a solution to preserve original master pieces leaving them intact for more demanding studies? Is this replica exhibition an ethical solution for the observer and the author? To achieve such goals the research will be conducted throughout literature review and the analysis of three case studies: Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Museum Solomon R. Guggenheim, and Tate Modern.