Illuminated wall art: how to choose the right piece

Illuminated wall art, backlit paintings, LED wall art: the names change, the idea stays the same. An image that lights up from within and that, in the evening, gives a room its atmosphere. At AUBE, we speak of light paintings: each piece is a gradient that evokes an hour of the day, from dawn to zenith.

How a backlit light painting works

LEDs are housed in an aluminium frame 5 cm deep, behind a diffusing acrylic sheet that carries the gradient. When it is on, the light passes through the sheet: it is the gradient that gives it its colour. Switched off, the painting keeps its image, more muted, and holds its place on the wall like a canvas.

It is ambient light. It colours the room and gives it its atmosphere, but does not replace a ceiling light for reading or working. In the evening, a table lamp completes it.

The shade: choosing an hour of the day

Start with the shade: it is what will set the atmosphere of the room. Each of our four pieces corresponds to a moment of the day.

• N°01 Levant, dawn: an amber sun on a deep brown ground. Warm and enveloping, for a living room or a bedroom in tones of wood, linen or earth.
• N°02 Crépuscule, evening: a red-orange heart in a field of peach and pink. The softest, for pale walls and interiors in powdery tones.
• N°03 Heure dorée, before sunset: a broad golden-yellow sun above a brown and midnight-blue horizon. The highest in contrast, for a wall seen from a distance.
• N°04 Zénith, midday: a cream and champagne halo on a grey-green ground. The brightest, for white, grey or green interiors.

A simple guideline: choose a shade that extends a colour already present in the room, that of a fabric, a wood or a wall. The painting then seems to have always been there.

The format: 55 or 80 cm

The format depends on the wall and the furniture below it, more than on the size of the room.

• The 55 × 55 cm format suits entrance halls, studies, bedrooms, narrow walls and the space above a chest of drawers.
• The 80 × 80 cm format gives presence to a living-room wall, above a sofa, a sideboard or a double bed.

If in doubt, cut a square of kraft paper to the right size and fix it to the wall for a few days: you will soon know which one suits you.

Our format guide shows them to scale, above a sofa.

First choose the hour of the day you want to come home to in the evening; the rest follows.

The frame: matte black, wood effect or gold

The frame links the piece to the rest of the interior. Matte black draws a clean, almost graphic outline, and goes with everything. Wood effect warms the whole and pairs with parquet floors, oak and walnut. Gold echoes brass, mouldings and more classical interiors. All three frames are the same price: only taste decides.

Essential or connected

Both versions are switched on and adjusted with the knob under the frame. The essential version stops there: one gesture, and the intensity is adjusted by hand.

The connected version adds a wireless remote, which works without Wi-Fi, the free app for iOS and Android, and voice control with Alexa and Google Assistant. It lets you schedule switching on and off: the painting lights up before you get home and switches itself off at the end of the evening.

Choose the connected version if the painting hangs far from where you sit, or if you like the light to follow your schedule.

Energy use and care

LEDs use little energy: at most 24 W for the 55 format and 54 W for the 80 format, and far less at the soft intensities you choose in the evening. They give off very little heat. For care, a soft, dry cloth, with no cleaning product, is enough to dust the sheet and the frame.