This grid of forty-eight framed monochrome prints presents an approximation of the light spectrum translated into pigments. The transition, from deep violet at the top left to dark crimson at the bottom right, was created using the process of photogravure. Like etching and aquatint, photogravure is an intaglio printing technique, but unlike those methods, photogravure plates are made using a photographic process. In this series, the plates contain no ‘image’ per se – just a uniform grain structure. Each panel was inked by hand with between three and seven colours, and these were carefully merged to obtain a completely seamless transition.

The colour spectrum series is part of Eliasson’s broader investigation of colour phenomena and colour theory, evident most notably in the ongoing Colour experiment series and in the series of photogravures also on view at PKM: The blue colour circle, The red colour circle, and The yellow colour circle, all 2008.