Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez. Young Spanish Nobleman, c. 1631. Canvas, 89,2 x 69,5 cm. Courtesy: Bayerische Staatsgemälde-Sammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Munich - Black, the achromatic colour, plays a surprisingly crucial role in the history of painting. Black is a metaphor, a compositional device, and, from a technical standpoint, poses a particular challenge to the painter. In some of the earliest surviving paintings, black was used to add depth to dark areas; it came to be suggestive of the shadowy side of life and the dark recesses of the soul. In portraits, black clothing reflected fashions and social status: for example the noble colour of black became a signature of Spanish court attire. With the emancipation of colour in the 19th century, black also gained a new significance, and, applied in thick impasto, took on a material value of its own, in a process that culminated when artists such as Max Beckmann or Kazimir Malevich finally liberated black completely from the service of naturalistic representation.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Saint Thomas of Villanueva Curing a Lame Man, c. 1675. Canvas, 220,8 x 148,7 cm. Courtesy: Bayerische Staatsgemälde-Sammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
Featuring a select group of paintings from the Pinakothek’s own collections, »Three Colours Black« focuses on painting from the 19th century, the period in which the treatment of darkness and black was just starting to lead a life of its own, while still remaining attached to older traditions. Paintings by Johann Heinrich Füssli, Édouard Manet, Franz Xaver Winterhalter and others are therefore juxtaposed with masterpieces by Simon Vouet, Diego Velázquez, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, taken from galleries currently closed to the public at the Alte Pinakothek. A total of 16 works will be on view.
Johann Heinrich Füssli, Satan and Death with Sin intervening, 1792-1802. Oil on canvas, 91,3 x 71,1 cm. Courtesy: Bayerische Staatsgemälde-Sammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Count Jenison-Walworth, 1837. Oil on canvas, 131,0 x 98,0 cm. Courtesy: Bayerische Staatsgemälde-Sammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich / Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds (WAF).
Edouard Manet, Le Déjeuner (Breakfast in the Studio), 1868. Canvas, 118,3 x 154,0 cm. Courtesy: Bayerische Staatsgemälde-Sammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich.