The invention concerns a plasma display device comprising in a screen a chamber (17) containing a discharge gas capable of being excited to generate, alone or in combination with luminophor means (18) themselves designed to be excited by a radiation emitted by said gas, a visible light. The device comprises means for generating on one side of said chamber (17) a uniformly distributed electric field (E) designed to ignite a plasma in the gas, as well as a matrix of controllable elements (19) and means controlling said elements (19) so that they modulate individually the electric field (E) or the radiation emitted by the plasma or the generated visible light thereby generating selectively luminous zones on the screen.