Event date: Thursday 23 April 2026
Link expires: Sunday 24 May 2026

Please ensure you allow enough time to watch the recording before the link expires.

Join Hilary Hope Guise for ‘Light’, the first of an exciting series of three talks on the depiction of light, space and time in art.

In the Dark Ages, Europe was covered in thick forests and fears abounded. Not surprisingly, light took on a theological or philosophical meaning. As the Medieval age of Faith waned, shadows began to appear, confirming the physical source of light as being from the sun. In art, sacred figures cast shadows for the first time, leading to the extreme chiaroscuro of Caravaggio and reflecting the political upheavals of the late 16th century. In the 20th century, Nihilism plunged into the all-black canvasses of Ad Reinhardt, expressing a fear of light and human emotion. We emerged into the 21st century with huge light installations by Olafur Eliasson.