Color-night: Poetics of darkness in art, between surface, object, and environment

Abstract

This paper proposes a critical and poetic reflection on the treatment of black as a color in art, understanding it not merely as an absence of light or an element associated with shadow, but as a color with its own expressive qualities. Taking as its starting point a set of works from different artistic media and historical contexts, in which black acts as a meaning-generating element, the study investigates how its material, perceptual, and symbolic variations produce different meanings and experiences. To this end, it examines key works from art history and contemporary artistic production, including paintings and works installed in outdoor environments, such as parks that function as open-air museums, in order to understand the relationships that black establishes with visual perception and the contexts in which it is situated. The analysis indicates that the use of black in art history extends beyond its traditional role in modeling chiaroscuro. By asserting itself as an autonomous color, black becomes capable of operating within a relational field, reshaping the relationships between body, space, and perception.