Fiona Tan, Downside Up, 2002. © the artist. Courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London

The skilled artist captures effects of the light in the stroke of a brush; grasps the angle that highlights dramatic aspects in a photograph; forms sculptures that interact with light to captivate the viewer.

And with light come inevitable shadows, giving the new show at Compton Verney its rich source of inspiration. The Shadow, at the Warwickshire gallery until September 9 2007, looks at psychological and symbolic meanings attached to shady shapes, penumbras and silhouettes, through installation, video, photography and painting.

Christian Boltanski, The Candles, 1986. © the artist. Courtesy the Marian Goodman Gallery

From Egyptian tomb paintings to Renaissance art, shadows have been both a frequent source of artistic inspiration and philosophical point of interest.

Superstitious motifs in dark areas of paintings and eerie atmospheres are classic subjects in artwork down the centuries, while one of Plato’s most famous allegories talks of prisoners in a cave who only ever see shadows of reality cast by a fire onto the wall. This exhibition, however, explores the age-old theme in the work of modern and contemporary artists.

Anri Sala, Ghost Games, 2002. Courtesy Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli; Hauser & Wirth Zürich-London; Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris; Johnen & Schöttle, Berlin, Köln, München

Shadows can be synonymous with a ‘dark side’, making them ripe for symbolic use in portraits. A self-portrait by Andy Warhol is featured, with his profile as a shadow, while a nude by Francesca Woodman casts a shadow that takes a very different form from the outline of the body.

Shadows of human activity take centre stage in films by Doug Aitken and Fiona Tan. Emotions usually hidden deep within the psyche are explored in these and other works, using the shadow as the entity onto which we project our fears, and perhaps our desires, too.

For example, Anri Sala’s video, Ghost Games, follows crabs in the darkness with a flashlight in an enigmatic and creepy dance. Would the imagery feel the same if it was shot in the daytime?

Georges de La Tour, The Dice Players, 1640s. Courtesy Stockton Museums Service

More ominously, the potential for the shadow to develop an independent identity is also an idea played with. Tiny figures positioned between candles and the wall throw shadow puppets that gain a life of their own due to the flickering light in Christian Botanski’s The Candles.

To complement the exhibition, on tour from Italy, the gallery is presenting some key candlelight works by French painter Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) and etchings by Jacques Callot (1592-1635).

The late paintings of La Tour show humans lit only by the flare of candles, simplifying the subjects while at the same time adding great mystery.