Best color temperature for lighting art?

Assuming they're available, wouldn't a colour temperature closest to natural sunlight at mid day (5500K) be the best? Although, the art may not have been crafted under the same lighting, so it may look 'off' when viewed under different light. You may just have to buy several to experiment, and you might find that different pieces need different lighting.

 

I have been buying LED Corn lamps from eBay lately from vendors in Hong Kong.

Search ebay "led corn" if curious. They look freaky and consume nothing and put out some good light.

There really nice and have a very white light around 6500 to 7000.
White as white can be. These would not work for you as they are not directional and are big but the temp would be perfect for art display so shoot for 6500 to 7000k light temp.

 

Have you inquired of an art gallery what color temp they use/recommend? I would think that they would be the experts!

You want to emulate "north facing" light, I believe... clear, even daylight without any glare.

 

It's different for each piece of art. I'd use these, http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/color-temperature-adjustable-led-bulb-light.html

they're adjustable, also don't forget to adjust the angle for best viewing.

BTW:

 

Color Temperature is not what really matters when lighting artwork. The spectrum of the light is what matters and color temperature does not govern the spectrum or tell you anything about the spectrum. CT (color temperature) is a handy tool for talking about lighting but it covers up details that matter.

For example, if you looked at the spectrum from a 3500K LED as compared to an incandescent based 3500K bulb, you would see a difference. Since is the spectrum that determines the colors you see, there will be a difference when you use two different light sources that have different spectra even though their CTs are the same. (the LED spectrum will have a bump in the blue while the incandescent based bulbs spectrum will be smooth)

I light artwork for a living and have been doing so for about 15 years. If you want your colorful artwork to look its best, use a 3500K incandescent based bulb. You can find such a bulb at solux (dot) net.

To answer the question that I am sure many are thinking - why 3500K a light with a spectrum that is closer to that of direct sunlight (with a color temperature at about 5000K)? It turns out that the human prefers the look of colors under a smooth specturm 3500K than to other spectrums (and color temperatures). There has been published research on this but I can tell you about something that happens in nature that you might remember. Photographers refer to a certain time of day as "the magic hour"... it is usually late in the day and everything just looks great. The spectrum of that light is smooth and the color temperature is about 3500K.

I know others have posted that sunlight at about 5000K would be best or "north light" (which is over 6500k) but indoors at normal light levels, that light will be very "cold" in appearance.