Black Mirror
- Artist: Alan Davie
- Date: 1952
- Medium: Oil paint on board
- Dimensions: support: 1219 x 1219 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Black Mirror” by Alan Davie, painted in 1952. Davie turned to oil on board and, after a brief illness that left him temporarily blind, he began to see black as a symbol of infinity and the depth of life. The title itself is a cheeky protest against the 1952 exhibition “The Mirror and the Square,” where he felt the divide between what we call “mirror‑visual” and “square‑abstract” was artificial. He insisted his work was never pure abstraction; instead, it’s a mirror that reflects the chaotic reality of his creative impulses.
The painting was produced in a single, almost violent stroke of inspiration—Davie would paint, then overlay, then destroy what he had laid down, believing each new layer was necessary even if it meant sacrificing earlier ideas. He did this in an attic room in New Barnet, a space that also hosted his family and his jewelry work. The square canvas measures 1219 mm on each side, and the finished image is a stark, black expanse that invites the viewer to confront the void and the possibility of something emerging from it.
See it in person
Black Mirror is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
