
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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Krilin
Toei Animation
Fine Art Drawings - 23 x 26 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.1 x 10.2 x 0.4 inch
Sold

Glaces et feux 4164
Jean-Georges Inca
Painting - 80 x 60 x 5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 2 inch
Sold




Apolo White. Head Sculpture. From the series Apollo
Paloma Castello
Sculpture - 43.9 x 27.9 x 30 cm Sculpture - 17.3 x 11 x 11.8 inch
$2,000







Staring Into The Void
Ilené Bothma
Painting - 39.8 x 29.8 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.7 x 0.8 inch
$975

Distance Means Nothing to Entangled Hearts
Nicola Fouché
Painting - 54 x 38 x 0.5 cm Painting - 21.3 x 15 x 0.2 inch
$820

Guia UPS Stamp and USPS Tracking, Diptych. From the series Terms and Conditions
Rodrigo Spinel
Fine Art Drawings - 31.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.5 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$3,600

Guia Fedex and DHL. Tracking, Diptych. From the series Terms and Conditions
Rodrigo Spinel
Fine Art Drawings - 31.8 x 49.8 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12.5 x 19.6 x 0.1 inch
$3,600


Towards darker grey
Sumit Mehndiratta
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 80 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 31.5 inch
$1,293

Spring Blossom
Brigitte Chombart de Lauwe
Painting - 130 x 162 x 3 cm Painting - 51.2 x 63.8 x 1.2 inch
Sold








Renversements 733
Anneke Klein-Kranenbarg
Sculpture - 25 x 25 x 3.5 cm Sculpture - 9.8 x 9.8 x 1.4 inch
$2,135

Women's ceremony
Yinarupa Nangala
Painting - 119 x 145 x 3 cm Painting - 46.9 x 57.1 x 1.2 inch
$8,304


Dear Ugly Future
Volkan Aslan
Sculpture - 55 x 27 x 34 cm Sculpture - 21.7 x 10.6 x 13.4 inch
$7,118


Paranoïd #11
David De Beyter
Photography - 30 x 41 x 0.2 cm Photography - 11.8 x 16.1 x 0.1 inch
$415


Hommage à Jean-Paul Goude - Inès et Charlie
Anka Matei
Painting - 50 x 70 x 0.5 cm Painting - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.2 inch
$1,186

G_43
Alina Aldea
Fine Art Drawings - 70 x 100 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 27.6 x 39.4 x 0.2 inch
$1,127


Freedom People - Acrobats (1)
Eka Peradze
Painting - 75 x 115 x 2 cm Painting - 29.5 x 45.3 x 0.8 inch
$7,237



Tornade, Lousianne
Rebecca Brueder
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 15 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 5.9 inch
$1,364

Le clos a la petite vigne
Michel Vezinet
Painting - 46 x 55 x 3 cm Painting - 18.1 x 21.7 x 1.2 inch
$2,017

Apartment in the Upper East Side, featuring a painting by Yoshitomo Nara.
Josh Delo
Painting - 140 x 113 x 4 cm Painting - 55.1 x 44.5 x 1.6 inch
$22,540


White jellyfish
Laetitia Goninet
Painting - 150 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 59.1 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,788

La Voute
Venet Hervé
Fine Art Drawings - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$830


Siècles de solitude
Gabriel Froget
Painting - 90 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$2,562





Memory landscape 4
Christa Schmid-Ehrlinger
Painting - 101 x 101 x 5 cm Painting - 39.8 x 39.8 x 2 inch
$15,422



Poetry of nature, Ref. 1509
Nasser Azizi
Painting - 140 x 180 x 3 cm Painting - 55.1 x 70.9 x 1.2 inch
$11,863

Sailboat in the ice...
Rob van Assen
Painting - 30 x 40 x 1 cm Painting - 11.8 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch
$2,907




Memorie e vecchi ori (heroes)
Alberto La Tassa
Painting - 160 x 230 x 3 cm Painting - 63 x 90.6 x 1.2 inch
$28,472


Rose épanouie
Françoise De Beaucé
Painting - 81 x 100 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.9 x 39.4 x 1 inch
$5,813






Le Cordier
Paul de Chatelperron
Fine Art Drawings - 60 x 114 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 23.6 x 44.9 x 0.8 inch
$2,243



Isabel, Diorama, Scramble, 2017
Luc Tuymans
Print - 80.6 x 65.4 x 2.5 cm Print - 31.75 x 25.75 x 1 inch
$17,500


Vision of peace
Zakaria Aboukhriss
Painting - 80 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$534



2 Dining Chairs 'Tribute to Mackintosh'
Frans L. Van Praet
Design - 140 x 44 x 50 cm Design - 55.1 x 17.3 x 19.7 inch
$7,118





Apple Care Porcelain
Fidia Faleschetti
Sculpture - 9 x 7 x 7 cm Sculpture - 3.5 x 2.8 x 2.8 inch
$356

Skeme and Lava - N.Y.C Legends
Big Daddy
Photography - 20 x 30 x 1 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 x 0.4 inch
$297

Study on perspective II
Noémie Goudal
Sculpture - 20 x 19 x 8 cm Sculpture - 7.9 x 7.5 x 3.1 inch
$534

Shadow tiger
Judith Christine Riemer
Fine Art Drawings - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$581

Tall Tall Grass
Harry Schwalb
Fine Art Drawings - 33 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 13 x 6 x 1 inch
$450

Comtesse PiouPiou
Valentine Burlan
Fine Art Drawings - 45 x 30 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$94

