Exhibition reveals insights into the use of colour as a choice rather than a necessity

At the National Gallery this autumn, journey through a world of shadow and light. With more than fifty painted objects created over 700 years, Monochrome: Painting in Black and White is a radical new look at what happens when artists cast aside the colour spectrum and focus on the visual power of black, white, and everything in between. Paintings by Old Masters such as Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres appear alongside works by some of the most exciting contemporary artists working today including Gerhard Richter, Chuck Close, and Bridget Riley. Olafur Eliasson‘s immersive light installation ‘Room for one colour’ (1997) brings a suitably mind-altering coda to the exhibition. With major loans from around the world, and works from the National Gallery’s Collection, ‘Monochrome’ reveals fresh insights into the use of colour as a choice rather than a necessity.