I was recently contacted for my opinions about color for art galleries and art collections. This has been a running topic in Apartment Therapy's Color Therapy, and I thought I’d continue the dialogue here and toss around some ideas.
The all-white room is a 20th century concept. I think it was the Bauhaus that threw the goddess Color out of the temple, but even Corbusier had his own vivid color palette, and we’re talking of course about people with resources and money. Go to the great houses of Europe, the beaches of Mexico, the streets of Bombay and what you see is color, color, color.
Perhaps it’s the artist rather than the art collector who requires the purity of all-white rooms for the untainted experience of viewing, but even then, I don’t buy it. The British favored red as the ideal color for a portrait gallery, an idea that goes back to Pompeii. The aristocracy has always used color — rare and expensive were pigments &mdash to display their wealth. And when I troll the museums here in New York, all-white rooms may be associated with Modernity (MoMA) more than anything else.
I close with a sampling of photos snapped over the years. When it comes to art collections, I personally am more likely to paint my walls black than white.
- Mark Chamberlain, interior and decorative painter
Images: 1: Kramer Design Studio by Laurie Rubin, Mark Chamberlain
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gray colour in the 3rd photo please?
Great photos! A few years ago, I saw an exhibit of Inuit artifacts at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the walls were painted a deep blue. I really, really loved the show but, the more I thought about it afterward, the more I felt like it was the blue that really pulled everything together and transformed the artifacts into an incredible exhibit.
Now, I always pay more attention to the wall color in museums and how that affects the viewing of the work.
The first room is so 90's!
Don't like it
I love the deep chocolately brown of picture # 4, but I cannot imagine painting my own walls that color.
I'm with Pepsin - what is that gray in #3? Now THAT is a color I could paint my walls AND hang my art.
"Perhaps it’s the artist rather than the art collector who requires the purity of all-white rooms for the untainted experience of viewing, but even then, I don’t buy it."
very right you are. i'm an artist & i tend to paint rooms to HIGHLIGHT my paintings. yes, some look better against white, but certainly not all of them. stark white can be good for painting if you have little pure light to work with though.
my art
love that red wall and the art.
Great discussion. I liked all of the pictures except the kelly green one, which I found a touch nauseating.
I've noticed that the Met often paints the walls a new color when they have an exhibition coming through. I think it adds a lot to the show.
In some ways I liken this discussion to the question of what color to tone your canvas before you begin painting the picture. Some artists begin on a white canvas, but I personally like to use rich jewel tones. I think that it changes the way i paint, even after the entire toned surface is covered with more paint.
One of the reasons why contemporary art galleries are white boxes is because you don't want the space to compete with the artwork. The pieces should stand as single statements without the intrusion of architectural embellishments. Now, once you take the piece home, you can contextualize it all you want. Art is meant to make a statement but also to be lived with in a real way. The artwork in my apartment sits on whatever color I have decided to paint my walls; the color and placement does dictate where certain pieces will hang to best highlight the room and the work. But since I don't live in an art gallery, I don't paint my apartment like one.
the National Gallery of Canada uses colour on the walls in many of the galleries where traditional art hangs. but i do recall that the areas devoted to modern art appear to be stark white spaces.
The galleries at the RISD Museum of Art have different colored walls for the exhibits. The Main Gallery houses the European paintings and is a great shade of blue that lends cohesion and formality to the salon setting.
On another note, I love the wheeled table in photo #1.
I originally had my walls painted in a neutral color and wondered why my paintings were not popping as they did in my old place. I recently repainted in turquoise and orange and I have fallen back in love with my paintings, which I thought I would need to swap out! Color does make all the difference. I do however understand why some galleries prefer white; it would be costly to repaint every time they moved paintings around but I am always more attracted and apt to buy from galleries with complimentary colors on the walls.