Michelangelo Pistoletto made the first work in his series Black and Light in 2007. Each work in the series explores the relationship between the two titular elements, black and light, as well as themes that underpin the artist’s oeuvre more widely: the active dimension of time; the integral inclusion of the observer and the surroundings; the encounter of oppositional concepts such as static/dynamic and absolute/relative; and the complete obliteration of the sense of the picture surface being an illusory window onto the world – the mirror instead encapsulates infinity. This series is related to the subsequent series Color and Light, which the artist first developed in 2014.

In Black and Light, interlocking sections of black and white mirror are enclosed in a gilded wood frame. The alternation between reflection and partial absorption across the different surfaces explore the balance between light and dark, reflectivity and absorption, subject and object. The hand-cut shapes of the mirror evoke a child's jigsaw, or individuals coming together in a society of peace and cohesion which is a core ambition of the artist's practice. The carefully moulded giltwood frame alludes to how paintings over time have been conventionally presented.