Lumiere London is an annual light festival that highlights the capital’s spectacular architecture and streets, with over fifty works created by visionary UK and international artists. The aim is to transform the city and change the way we think about public space. This year Lumiere is taking place over four evenings, from Thursday 18 to Sunday 21 January 2018.
To celebrate the return of this light extravaganza, join us in looking at the 20th and 21st centuries’ leading artists who worked with neon lights – a difficult and even dangerous medium to master.
The Light Inside, 1999 (mixed media), James Turrell (b.1943) / Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA / Museum commission, funded by Isabel B. and Wallace S. Wilson / Bridgeman Images
Estructura lumínica Madí 6, 1946 (neon gas, Plexiglas, and wood box), Gyula Kosice (b.1924) / Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA / Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund / Bridgeman Images
Zebra or Fibonacci, by Mario Merz, 1973, 20th Century, stuffed animal and twelve numbers in neon, animal, Mario Merz (1925-2003) / Museo del Novecento, Milan, Italy / Mondadori Portfolio / Electa / Luca Carrà / Bridgeman Images
Untitled, 1969 (acrylic paint on cast acrylic), Robert Irwin (b.1928) / The Art Institute of Chicago, IL, USA / Barbara Neff Smith and Solomon Byron Smith Purchase Fund / Bridgeman Images