White

In physics, white is the sum of all the colours. To the human eye, white appears to be the total absence of colour. Amongst artists, white and its many uses in art are continuously evolving and challenging those who would embrace them. Is white, then, a non-colour, or an enhancer of colours? Intangible or material? Absence or excess?

Since Antiquity, white has been appreciated for its symbolic value. In Ancient Greece, where they would paint their statues, it was a sign of incompletion, whereas the Romans believed it showed pomp and imperialist virtue. With the rise of Christianity, white was used in opposition to black in order to emphasise moral dichotomies: the pure, divine white against the darkness. In some cases, however, white was used to show sickness or death, most notably in the pallid representations of the skeletal, crucified Christ.

In the Renaissance white was used to sublimate faces and backgrounds. Da Vinci even based his sfumato technique on the soft transition from light into darkness. Throughout the history of painting, white was considered precious for its ability to reflect light. It attracts the gaze even when used in the tiniest quantities, and illuminates the subject, drawing out stunning contrasts as seen in the works of Rembrandt, or in Vermeer's famous Girl with the Pearl Earring.

With the rise of Impressionism, white was used as the brightest tone amongst shades of grey. While Manet produced canvases which were forerunners to monochromes, including The Reader, which was almost pure white, Monet delivered a stunning gradient of whites whilst recreating the snow at his home in Giverny. The first true white monochrome appeared with the arrival of Malevitch's White Square on a White Background. The artist said 'I have broken the blue boundary of colour limits, and come out into the white'.

Modernists were equally passionate about white and valued it incredibly highly. Miro in particular questioned the status of white on canvases. In his painting Woman, Bird and Star white is in parts boldly painted, but is also distinctive for its absence around the star. Picasso, on the other hand, explored white in conjunction with his famous coloured periods. Piero Manzoni became famous thanks to his 'achromatic' paintings, a series of canvases produced exclusively in shades of white. Moving into the 20th century, white became synonymous with minimalist abstraction. For artists like Kandinsky, white was a cosmic colour, associated with a spiritual search for the absolute, guiding the artists as he seek to express his emotions.

Today, white remains an ever popular subject. Roman Opalka made his name creating a series of white numbers of a white background, while Daniel Arsham reinvents white walls in galleries by letting his artwork drip down onto them. White is a colour with multiple symbolic interpretations. The colour of divinity or humility; of purity and immaculate, of emptiness and absence, but always colour. If blue has Klein and red has Rothko, it appears that no artist has yet succeeded in fully mastering white – but maybe you'll find them in our selection!

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White

Poisson tigré

A Watchful Stork: A Rural Landscape

Model for Monument to the White Squirrel

Goat

Centauros III

Lola sleeping

Evening talks (Conversations du soir)

Poisson

Uncharted Speed

Golden Ratio

The Imaginary Escape

Jeu de Dames

Roboclusion Kong Skate

Tendresse

Martha My Dear

Jungle 3D - Diptyque n°02

Jungle 3D - Diptyque n°01

Ourse

La croupe de Léda

Birds

Two Penguins

Stage Dance

Ignition

Lovers under the moon

Entretemps

Sleeping Beauties

Leque

L'éléphant

Canevas

Entre nous IV

La sardine

Don't want to hear it

Les Canards

Street panda

Caldo de pescado

The Maid of Orleans

Mademoiselle Sayana

A Dog, a cat and the 9 suns

Close

Eagle Flight

Make a Wish

Couple de rhinocéros

White soul

Vanité (crâne aux paillons)

Lion

Animal imaginaire I

Terra Incognita - Breathe (1)

UrbanCat Porcelain edition

Altar de Cronos

Another nesting theory

Segensreich

Lola

Terra Incognita - Breathe

Bonniers Early Hefner

A tire d'aile

Still Life (Skull and Falcon)

Heruns xxl

Vous qui passez sans me voir

13

Group of seven awkward moments (Early snow with Bob and Doug)

Group of seven awkward moments (northern lights)

Ballet

El tigre y las cabras con retrete /le tigre et les chèvres avec toilettes

French Kiss

Nuit d'été

Si facile, si amusant !