The first comprehensive exhibition of the 2026-2031 partnership between Arkas Art and Centre Pompidou, Lumina: The Art of Color and Light, brings together 83 works selected from the Centre Pompidou collection at the Lucien Arkas Art Center.

Curated by Centre Pompidou International Projects curators Anna Hiddleston and Noémie Fillon, the exhibition explores the transformation of color and light throughout art history. Spanning the period from the early twentieth century to the 1970s, the selection examines how artists’ relationships with color and light evolved through different movements and artistic approaches.

From Fauvism to Op Art, from studies of synesthesia to Color Field painting, the exhibition traces the moment when color ceased to serve merely as a tool for representing the visible world and became an independent realm of expression and perception. Throughout this journey, extending from pigment to light and from canvas to space, visitors are invited to discover how artists placed the experience of seeing at the very heart of their work.

Exhibition Narrative
Comprising seven thematic sections, Lumina: The Art of Color and Light examines the role of the relationship between light, color, and perception in the development of modern art.
The exhibition opens with works by Fauvist artists, whose innovative use of color reinterpreted the distinctive light of the Mediterranean. It then focuses on the changing visual culture brought about by the emergence of electric lighting in the early twentieth century, the connections between color and music, research into synesthesia, and photography’s experimental engagement with light.

Following a section devoted to the influence of natural light and landscape on artists, visitors encounter the Color Field approach, in which color increasingly became an autonomous means of expression, as well as Op Art works that place the experience of vision at their core.
Throughout the exhibition, color and light are presented not merely as represented elements but as the very subject of the artwork and fundamental components of the viewer’s experience.

Artists Featured in the Exhibition
Lumina: The Art of Color and Light brings together significant artists from different generations of modern and contemporary art.
The exhibition includes works by Georges Braque, Maurice de Vlaminck, Natalia Goncharova, Luigi Russolo, Fernand Léger, František Kupka, Vassily Kandinsky, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Berenice Abbott, Joan Mitchell, Etel Adnan, Shirley Jaffe, Gerhard Richter, Richard-Paul Lohse, Kenneth Noland, Bridget Riley, Yaacov Agam, Jesús Rafael Soto, and Victor Vasarely.

Centre Pompidou x Arkas Art
Lumina: The Art of Color and Light is the first major exhibition of the long-term partnership established between Arkas Art and Centre Pompidou.
As part of a five-year program, the Lucien Arkas Art Center will host exhibitions drawn from the Centre Pompidou collection. Structured around five thematic seasons, the program will bring a total of ten exhibitions to art audiences in İzmir, with two exhibitions presented each year.
The first season focuses on the theme of color and light, encompassing not only visual arts but also diverse approaches in film, music, and performance.

Exhibition Information
Exhibition: Lumina: The Art of Color and Light / Lumina: Renk ve Işık Sanatı
Dates: 26 September 2026 – 14 February 2027
Venue: Lucien Arkas Art Center, İzmir
Curators: Anna Hiddleston, Noémie Fillon
Organized by: Centre Pompidou and Arkas Art