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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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Painting, Space tiger, Jo Di Bona

Space tiger

Jo Di Bona

Painting - 120 x 120 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 inch

$9,945

Sculpture, White Chicken, Viktor Zuk

White Chicken

Viktor Zuk

Sculpture - 11 x 9 x 8 cm Sculpture - 4.3 x 3.5 x 3.1 inch

$304

Fine Art Drawings, Dog, Tanner Rhines

Dog

Tanner Rhines

Fine Art Drawings - 20.32 x 25.4 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8 x 10 inch

$1,053

Painting, Rencontre, Appaloosa

Rencontre

Appaloosa

Painting - 61 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 24 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch

$1,018

Painting, War, Mykola Mamchur

War

Mykola Mamchur

Painting - 60 x 50 x 0.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch

$2,574

Painting, Savage, Marta Zawadzka

Savage

Marta Zawadzka

Painting - 90 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch

$2,691

Painting, Joy-III, Svetlana Martin

Joy-III

Svetlana Martin

Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch

$1,264

Sculpture, Long skull, Angela Gomes

Long skull

Angela Gomes

Sculpture - 120 x 45 x 18 cm Sculpture - 47.2 x 17.7 x 7.1 inch

$7,605

Painting, Reconfort, Mugen

Reconfort

Mugen

Painting - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch

$1,111

Print, Untitled, Leonor Fini

Untitled

Leonor Fini

Print - 32 x 24 x 0.1 cm Print - 12.6 x 9.4 x 0 inch

$702

Sculpture, Shadok Lou, Flo Hombecq

Shadok Lou

Flo Hombecq

Sculpture - 70 x 30 x 30 cm Sculpture - 27.6 x 11.8 x 11.8 inch

$2,574

Sculpture, Panda 2, Erekle Tsuladze

Panda 2

Erekle Tsuladze

Sculpture - 90 x 40 x 58 cm Sculpture - 35.4 x 15.7 x 22.8 inch

$4,680

Painting, Selfie, Hervé Maury

Selfie

Hervé Maury

Painting - 80 x 80 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.6 inch

$1,872

Sculpture, Yakuza Panda, James Chiew

Yakuza Panda

James Chiew

Sculpture - 145 x 75 x 30 cm Sculpture - 57.1 x 29.5 x 11.8 inch

$22,815

Painting, Animalism 2, Kokimoto

Animalism 2

Kokimoto

Painting - 31 x 21 x 0.1 cm Painting - 12.2 x 8.3 x 0 inch

$837

Painting, What If?, Zakhar Shevchuk

What If?

Zakhar Shevchuk

Painting - 100 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch

$2,925

Painting, Trifulca, Patopalomo

Trifulca

Patopalomo

Painting - 50 x 70 x 0.24 cm Painting - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch

$655

Sculpture, Bitxi, Pascal Billard

Bitxi

Pascal Billard

Sculpture - 35 x 29 x 12 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 11.4 x 4.7 inch

$924

Sculpture, Cornus, Pascal Billard

Cornus

Pascal Billard

Sculpture - 35 x 11 x 16 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 4.3 x 6.3 inch

$924

Fine Art Drawings, Singe, Henrik Jacob

Singe

Henrik Jacob

Fine Art Drawings - 30 x 20 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.8 x 7.9 inch

$936