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

Walk

Venc VI

Amour pudique

Cross my heart and hope to die

Wisp

Ten am

Pensive - Portrait scène poétique semi figurative

Pony

My Beautiful Garden

Woman with red nails

Pillow Talk

Embrace

Toxic série geisha pop

Drôle de dame

Serie geisha pop 3

Daydreamer

Reach Out For The Sun

Ice Scream

Marché : Les Choux

Sète by Design

Veracruz Dancer

Silencieusement, elle glissait sur l’air

Volupté

Flamenco

La piscine et le toit

Sketch 3

Sans titre

Crosswalk

Galaxie Tournesols

Voile au vent - Monde de la voile

Goodall

Deux vendeuses - Scène de vie quotidienne africaine

Lapinou - Monde animalier et nature

Reading a book with my FlatterFriend

Kaleidoscope 34

In Search of Balance N3

In Search of Balance N2

In Search of Balance N1

Pêcheurs de crevettes Delta de Shanghai Chine

AL vs LA & K

Dreaming

Phare Ar-Men - Série paysage marin

Le gardien de l'aqueduc - La maison en haut du rocher - série Paysage imaginaire figuratif

Efigenia

Street food

Horse love

Washing 07

Monsieur Vénus

Monsieur Vénus

Still life with fishes

Montre molle

HM 25

Une ballade

L'Amour rendu visible - série représentation félins

Katze für U - série représentation félins

On dort ensemble - série représentation félins

Soirée d'automne - Portrait scène poétique semi figurative

Helene

Following the light II

Les amies

Revolver

Brick of the wall

Cosmos Blancs - Champs de fleurs

Les Petites anémones - Bouquet de fleurs

Levedad (Légèreté) - blanc

Morpho polyphemus luna