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Darkness

   
The Egyptian Philosophers have stated the hidden truth of their Theology; they found that according to certain Egyptian writings there is One Principle of all things, which is praised under the name of the Unknown Darkness, thrice repeated.

Damascius: De Principiis, Vol. 3.
(Early Sixth Century CE.)

[Paris, 1991, p. 167]


Robert Smithson:
"The Museum of the Void", 1969

Comme tu me plairait, ô nuit ! sans ces étoiles
Dont la lumière parle un langage connu !
Car je cherche le vide, et le noir et le nu !
Mais les ténèbres sont elles-mêmes des toiles
Où vivent, jaillissant de mon oeil par milliers,
Des êtres disparus aux regards familiers.

Charles Baudelaire: "Obsession."
Les fleurs du mal (2nd ed.), 1861.
   


   

           


Lucas Pietersz. Roodbaard: Cave in Bos Ypeij, Tytsjerk (the Netherlands), 1850
[entrance, inside, exit]


Henri Matisse:
Porte-Fenêtre à Colllioure,
1914


Man Ray: Photo Noire, 1930.
("À Robert Desnos – plein des
choses qui absorbent la lumière")


  




 



Lucio Fontana: Untitled, 1955



Lucio Fontana: Concetto Spatiale Natura,
1959/1960



Anish Kapoor: At the hub of things,
1987

 

  


 



Michelangelo Pistoletto:
Metro Cubo de Infinito, 1965/1966
[Inverted mirrors]


Thomas Rentmeister: Ohne Titel, 1989
[Black glass]


  

 


 



Michael Heizer: North East South West, 1967



Anish Kapoor: Descent into limbo, 1992
   


 

 




        

  

           More dark voids by Anish Kapoor     

           Darkness as performance. (Blindfolds, black glasses, closed eyes.)   

           Black monochrome painting – from Paul Bilhaud (1882) until Eric Doeringer (2006)

          

 

 




Compiled by Remko Scha. Most recent update: October 2011.