A color display and solar cell device (100, 300, 500), and methods for fabricating and operating the device. The device (100, 300, 500) includes a transparent light source (140, 340, 540) located behind a liquid crystal display (105, 305, 505) that includes a switchable transflector layer (145, 345, 545). In a first embodiment, the liquid crystal display (105) also includes a tri-color pixelized filter (115), the switchable transflector (145) is a switchable broadband transflector, and the transparent light source (140) is a white light source. In a second embodiment, the switchable transflector layer (345) is a tri-color selectable transflector and the transparent light source (340) is a tri-color selectable light source. In a third embodiment, the switchable transflector layer is a switchable broadband transflector and the transparent light source is a tri-color selectable light source. In a fourth embodiment, the switchable transflector layer (545) is a switchable pixelized tri-color transflector and the transparent light source (540) is a tri-color selectable light source.