It’s the best time of year to get your culture fix (because who wants to be outside in this weather), and The National Gallery has pulled it out the bag this season with their new exhibition Monochrome: Painting in Black and White. Transporting you on a journey through a world of shadow and light, this exhibition takes a radical new look at what happens when artists cast aside the colour spectrum and focus on the visual power of black and white.
With more than 50 painted objects created over 700 years, you can expect paintings from Old Masters including Jan van Eyck, whose Saint Barbara piece is the earliest known example of monochrome work on panel drawn all the way back in 1437, and Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn and Jean-Auguste-Dominique-Ingres. Alongside the early works, there will be displays from some of the world’s most exciting contemporary artists including Gerhard Richter, Chuck Close, Bridget Riley and Olafur Eliasson’s immersive light installation ‘Room for One Colour’.
This exhibition brings together major pieces from around the world for the first time, and will make you see monochrome art in a whole new light. So get down there and feel inspired.
Until Sun 18th February 2018
Sainsbury Wing, The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
nationalgallery.org.uk
Main Image: ‘Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and workshop, Odalisque in Grisaille (detail), about 1824-34 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource / Scala, Florence’