There is an interesting piece in the Guardian art blog today about the colour of the walls in art galleries, inspired by the re-opening of the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, which has painted its walls in deep shades like this:

Suit you? … French ministers inspect the Musée d’Orsay's new-look non-white walls. And some paintings. 
Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images, copied from The Guardian.

The link to the Guardian blog is here. 

Jonathan James argues, amongst other things, that painting gallery walls white , at least for pre-20th century art, is a bad thing but is done partly to save galleries the bother of choosing something else (and for purely practical and economic simplicity too, of course).

It's an interesting issue,  and applies also to the coloured mounts sometimes used around pictures or prints.  Changing the colour can completely change the overall look and relative impact of an image.  Soemthing to consider in mounting my own work, or in presenting a portfolio.  At home, all my walls are white, and I have always thought that this was the purest and simplest way to focus on the image, rather than its location and surroundings.  But perhaps I've got it worn.  Hmm.  Food for further thought.