An art term for two colours having the tendency to look identical or near identical when lit under certain lighting conditions be they daylight, fluorescent, LED or tungsten.
Such colours are called metameric pairs. These unintended and undesired pairings are often down to properties such as gloss, surface texture, transparency or the relationship between binder and pigment.
In other words, Metamerism is an optical illusion and accident that can be exploited by artists. The natural phenomenon has been incorporated in art photography and in op art paintings by op-artists.
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