The importance of skillfully lighting a museum display is discussed. Light sources are studied according to their intended function, their ease or unease of control, and their effect on the material to be exhibited. The problem of controlling daylight is surveyed with the help of concrete examples. Considerations affecting the choice of light sources (including cost) introduce the description and use of incandescent lamps (the tungsten-halogen lamp, the low-voltage dichroic tungsten-halogen lamp); high-pressure discharge lamps; tubular fluorescent lamps. Three examples of lighting design, one for an art gallery, one for a public building housing collections, and one for a museum, as well as two tables, one showing maximum illuminances for classes of objects, and the other a brief glossary of lighting terminology, complete this article.