Gephi, by default, has white as the background color of the graphical area. This can be very easily changed with a single click, which is described in the recipe in this section.
Following are the steps to change the background of the graph/charting area:
Locate the button with a bulb icon on it, which is located in the lower-left corner of the Graph panel. When the mouse pointer is hovered over it, a descriptor textbox should appear that reads Background Color.
Left-click the button to alternate the background between black and white.
Right-clicking on the button opens up a pop-up window that allows you to select the color for the background. Once chosen, hit OK.