An image display (A) comprises a display unit (1) such as a liquid crystal panel, a light source (3) such as a backlight, a light source control section (5), a video signal processing section (7) for outputting a signal for controlling the display unit according to an input signal (S1), and a control section (11) for controlling the whole including light source control and video control. The control section (11) has a video analyzing block (15) for analyzing the video on the basis of the input signal (S1), a target value setting block (17) for setting a target value of the intensity of the emission from the light source according to the analysis result (S2), and a controlled variable determining block (21) for determining the control speed of the light source in response to the target value (S3), sending the set luminance (S5) to the light source control section, and outputting a compensation parameter (S4) to the video signal processing section (7). On receiving the luminance set value (S5), the light source control section (5) outputs a light intensity control signal (S6) to the light source. With this, power consumption by image display is reduced, and a technique of displaying an image without any feeling of visual strangeness can be provided.