The transformation of color into light belongs to the great topics of modern painting. On the basis of Vincent van Gogh´s paintings, the "Fauves" - Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck - employed the powerful effects of pure primary and complementary colors, thus promoting the breakthrough of pure color as a heightened expression of the perception of light. As a consequence, color began to set itself free - all the way to the monochrome color field paintings by Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Yves Klein. The liberation of color within the picture plain allowed space to be conquered with light. Dan Flavin, the creator of "light paintings" with real light sources, radiating neon and fluorescent light tubes that wash the space in changes of color, provides bright examples of the transformation of painted, picture-immanent light into a pictorial space of light. From Color to Light shows how in the development of modern and contemporary art, artists have employed colors to turn light into a fundamental topic and effect.