For art to be enjoyed visually, illumination is necessary. It is difficult to see something in all its beauty when it is constantly in the shade.
For art in the home, there only are two options. The first is to display the art in a room that benefits from plenty of natural, indirect, light. That is, not across from a window where it is hit with direct sunlight, risking colour fading.
The second is to turn to artificial lighting, of which, there are plenty of options. Only one really matters - LED.
LED lighting installations are the way to go for illuminating art
All types of art on paper or canvas are susceptible to degradation caused by the light intensity, especially artificial lights. The exception to that is with modern LED lighting solutions.
LED works better for art because they only contain the visible light spectrum. They do not have infrared (IR) or worse ultraviolet (UV) rays. By eliminating those two from the light spectrum hitting your art, there is far less risk of fading.
Another important aspect of using LED technology for your picture light source is for heat reduction. Standard wall lights with incandescent bulbs will produce heat, as do halogen lights. Those will slowly cook the surfaces they illuminate. For pieces of artwork on canvas or any prints, heat should be minimised.
A quick test to do to check a light is not too close is to put your hand in front of the art. If you can feel the heat from the light source, that heat is going to be affecting the painting each time the light is turned on. Put more distance between the light and the canvas.
Spread the light evenly
Lighting for art, in particular paint or oil on canvas, light intensity needs to be balanced across the whole piece to view in the best perspective.
The angle of the spotlights ought to be right to balance the effect of shadows on the wall. At just a 10-degree angle, it would be really close to the picture creating an intense shadow beneath the frame. Increase it too much though, to say, 45 or 50 degrees, without antiglare glazing in the frame, the view would be disrupted with reflective glare.
Consider wall washer lights for gallery walls
On gallery walls, a wall washer installation illuminates the wall in its entirety; not individual pieces. Spotlights are ideal for illuminating single pieces in average sized frames, or multiple spotlights for multiple pieces. The disadvantages of multiple spotlights for a gallery wall are the higher price for more lights and the distracting view from multiple units.
Wall washers can be discreetly installed along the ceiling to create ambient light across the entire wall. The advantage to this for gallery walls is that you can change your display when it suits, without having to adjust the lighting. And because the wall is illuminated from directly above the art, glare is avoided.
Use picture lights for a feature piece of art
Picture lights are advantageous for an elegant display that illuminates a single piece of art. For an even spread, they are attached to the wall above the frame in the centre and, like spotlights, they are angled at around 30 degrees to minimise potential glare.