BLACK and Light is a film and photographic essay on the rooms and paintings of the Prado Museum, directed by the artist Álvaro Perdices. Its narrative takes place at night, in a closed museum, with a low level of illumination and a partial absence of light.

Running 2 hours and 15 minutes, it is close to a possible visit to the Prado, in which the slowness and self-absorbedness of the camera allow an unusual approach.

The original score of the film is spread over the entire film, creating a dense piece of minimalist ambient music, with an infinite number of layers and textures. During the piece, the sound of the viola da gamba, played by Jordi Comellas, serves as a guide to uniting the different parts of the narration, giving harmonic unity to the whole work.

The work premiered at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum on 23 May 2018 and was shown at the National Gallery in London in September 2019 as part of the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the Prado Museum.

Client: Museo del Prado
Production company: Álvaro Perdices, Visor Audiovisual
Genre: pictorial film essay
Year of production: 2018