When the Art Institute of Chicago needed a lighting plan for its newly reinstalled galleries, the designers at Lightswitch Architectural decided to lead the museum to LED. But finding the bulb that best matched the museum's current halogen plan—while showing off the priceless collection in all its true colors—was no easy task.

“In the art world, the concentration is generally on high color rendering, which LED can do well,” explains Lightswitch partner Avraham Mor. “However, the question is, how do we optimize color temperature? We were looking for an LED solution that would give us flexibility in temperature without sacrificing exceptional color rendering.” The designers tested a number of LED sources from different manufacturers by building side-by-side mock-ups illuminating four works by French painter Claude Monet—an artist known precisely for his lifelong study of the optical effects of light.

The unanimous winner? Austin-based premium LED lighting brand Ketra. Click the slides to find out why.