LIGHT: Works from the Tate Collection

Chapter 3: Interior Light

As cities further modernized at the end of the 19th century, artists became increasingly interested in how to depict light in interior spaces. By incorporating the effects of light coming in through a window, artists sought to express spiritual connections among people as well as the inner worlds of individuals.
Mother and Child by British painter Sir William Rothenstein (1872–1945) depicts the casual daily life of a parent and her child, using soft light to convey the intimacy between them. In contrast, Interior by Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) uses darker colours and pale light to effectively show the tranquility of the room and coolness of the air.

Chapter 4: Light Effects

Scientific interest in light led to experimentation by various artists. The invention of photography in the 1830s brought with it revolutionary ways to utilize the qualities and effects of light. As photographic technology further developed in the late 19th century, artists experimented with using light itself as a means of expression.
When the Bauhaus in Weimar Germany (which moved to Dessau in 1925, then to Berlin in 1932, and was closed by the Nazis in 1933) opened, artists from around the world began to understand photography as a means for atheistic experimentation and as an artform in its own right. These artists sought to capture pure light and shadow by using abstract forms such as circles and squares as their subjects, developing new photographic techniques to capture moving light.

Chapter 5: Colour and Light

The Bauhaus aimed to provide a holistic education in art, craft, and design, and was led by instructors who were interested in the relationship between light and colour using geometric forms.
German instructor Josef Albers (1888–1976) was particularly interested in how colours change appearance depending on their relationship to other colours. He demonstrated that by placing colours within geometric fields, colours could appear to be in the foreground or background depending on the colour of the field. Fellow Bauhaus instructors László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) from Hungary and Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), originally from Russia and later active in Germany, also studied the visual effects of the interaction of colours.

Chapter 6: Reconfiguring Light

Invented in the mid-19th century, light bulbs permeated lives in the 20th century. As industry developed and diversified, they became essential tools in advertising. Against this backdrop, artists post World War II began exploring new relationships with light.
American artist Dan Flavin (1933–1996) used commercially available fluorescent lamps directly installed on walls to transform the visual experience of an entire space. Since the early 1990s, the work of UK born David Batchelor (b. 1955) has focused on how urbanites experience light and colour. His work Spectrum of Brick Lane 2 evokes a bustling city. Truck Birds Wind by UK artist Julian Opie (b. 1958), created from digitally altered photographs of nature and cityscapes taken by the artist, is reminiscent of visual worlds seen in anime or computer games.

Chapter 7: Expansive Light

Whether depicting a starry night sky, capturing a golden sunset on film, or immersing viewers in the warm glow of artificial illumination, contemporary artists have explored the role that light plays in revealing the expansiveness of our universe and the precariousness of our place within it. James Turrell (b. 1943) an avid pilot, works directly with light and space to create artworks that engage with atmospheric conditions. Having trained in perceptual psychology, Turrell began experimenting with light as a pure medium in the mid-1960s. Danish artist Olafur Eliasson (b. 1967) has a strong interest in themes of climate change and how people interact with their surroundings. The crystalline structure Stardust particle evokes the form of a greatly enlarged stardust particle – a remnant of an exploded star. Eliasson uses the reflection of light to change the appearance of gallery architecture depending on the position of the viewer, reminding us that our actions, however small, have an impact on the world around us.