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Originally published in STIR

Move over, "museum white." At the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va., the walls are as

and vivid as the art itself.

n 1998, Jeff Harrison took a long, hard look at the Chrysler Museum of Art's gallery of

eoclassical sculpture and saw red deep, sumptuous red. "At the time, the museum wallswere painted light gray, light blue and light green. They were to serve as neutral foils for the

and the architecture of the building," says Harrison, the Chrysler's chief curator. "We wanted

efresh the sculpture gallery, and one remarkably easy yet dramatic way was to introduc

adically different wall color."

Red had historical precedent, given that many 18th century sculpture galleries were painted

olor, says Harrison. But history was far from his only guide when he began choosing colors

he rest of the galleries in the museum, which features the highly respected collection of

American and European art amassed by auto heir Walter P. Chrysler Jr.

When we repainted our Italian Renaissance gallery, we did not use red, which is historically

sed in Renaissance galleries," says Harrison. "The palettes of the paintings in the room we

eavily weighted toward red, and I wanted a color that would serve as a chromatic opposite

went for dark green. The Old Masters paintings, which can be pretty dark, regain their lightn

against the dark wall."

Over the next seven years, Harrison and his team worked gallery by gallery, converting the

eutral palette into one that featured rich blue, saturated rose, electric teal and deep brown

http://www.sherwin-williams.com/architects-specifiers-designers/inspiration/stir/index.htmlhttp://www.sherwin-williams.com/architects-specifiers-designers/inspiration/stir/index.html

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each color chosen for its "sympathetic and dramatic effect" with the art. Thanks in part to

advertising executives Bob Morrison and Steve Tobin of Virginia Beach-based ad agency

Cortani, Morrison & Tobin, these colors are now part of the Sherwin-Williams line of Chrysle

Museum Colors. When Morrison's wife saw the museum's newly painted walls for the first ti

he said she wanted the colors for her own home and the ad men, who previously had do

work for the museum, saw the possibility of a partnership between the Chrysler Museum an

Sherwin-Williams.

We matched all the colors from the museum walls and sent them to our Color Marketing an

Design department in Cleveland," says Jim Faucette, Norfolk district manager for Sherwin-

Williams.

They created a color card that is actually a piece of art it's beautiful."

Fresh Approach

Response to the Chrysler Museum Colors, launched in April, has been tremendous, says Li

enkins, Sherwin-Williams architectural account executive for the Southeastern division. "To

tep inside one of the Chrysler galleries is to see firsthand how the rules of using color have

hanged," she says. "You won't see grays, neutrals or museum white," the traditional backdhoices when displaying art because they help the wall disappear and draw attention to the

piece itself. "Here the walls are magnified with color, bringing new dimension to the art and a

ew interpretation of the artist's expression. It's a new way of thinking about the relationship

between color and art."

So, how much difference does a teal wall make in the Chrysler's early 20th century America

allery, home to pieces by Franz Kline, Edward Hopper and the artists of the Ashcan Schoo

After the gallery was renovated, a member of our staff who knew the collection as well as

anyone walked into the gallery, looked at a painting that had always been there and said, 'W

id we get this?'" says Harrison. "It's night and day, absolutely transforming. It was literally li

he was seeing it for the first time."

Make It a Masterpiece

HUE.Contrasting colors will make paintings "pop" off the wall. A dark wall will make a painti

appear lighter. To create an accent wall, as well as highlight a painting, choose a color from

painting for that wall, then paint the other walls a different color.

TEXTURE. "Flat paint is typically a better choice to highlight art," says Jim Faucette, SherwWilliams district manager in Norfolk, Va. "There's no sheen, so the light reflection will come

he art, not the wall." If rich, dark colors look too heavy in a flat finish or if art is displayed i

igh-traffic area choose a satin finish.

LIGHT.Using COLOR To Go paint samples from Sherwin-Williams, paint large pieces of

poster board with the wall colors you're considering and hold them against the paintings to

etermine how the colors work with the art amid the natural and artificial light in the room. O

order 8 12!x 11!paint chips, which ship in a day from Sherwin-Williams.

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