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Reflections of Modernity: Abstract Impressions at Mies van der Rohe Pavilion
Daniel Holfeld
Photography - 20 x 30 cm Photography - 7.9 x 11.8 inch
$673
Water lily, Flower of purity
Le anh Tuan
Painting - 119.9 x 89.9 x 3 cm Painting - 47.2 x 35.4 x 1.2 inch
$3,300
Morning on the lake
Le anh Tuan
Painting - 79.8 x 119.9 x 3 cm Painting - 31.4 x 47.2 x 1.2 inch
$3,200
Veracruz Dancer
Nicolas Sanchez
Painting - 76.2 x 101.6 x 3.8 cm Painting - 30 x 40 x 1.5 inch
$15,000
To live off of memories
Reinaldo Chavez
Painting - 27.5 x 22 x 0.3 cm Painting - 10.8 x 8.7 x 0.1 inch
$325
Place Within Reach 24
Petr Strnad
Painting - 70.2 x 50 x 0.1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$505
Barcelona towers
M. Asuncion Raventos
Painting - 180 x 140 x 3 cm Painting - 70.9 x 55.1 x 1.2 inch
$3,478
The Confidant
Ricardo Fabián Bertona
Painting - 110 x 110 x 1 cm Painting - 43.3 x 43.3 x 0.4 inch
$8,000
Partition de printemps
Odette Muller
Painting - 40 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$727
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 32 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$673
Mémoire de JingDeZhen
Feng Hatat
Photography - 32 x 48 x 1 cm Photography - 12.6 x 18.9 x 0.4 inch
$673
Une nuit pluvieuse
Feng Hatat
Photography - 60 x 40 x 2 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$673
Free style and Co
Marie-Aude Molin
Painting - 60 x 40 x 0.25 cm Painting - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.1 inch
$516
El Regreso del Guerrero
Mayra AleJandra Lifischtz
Painting - 70.1 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,810
Le phare et les mystères
Carole Framezelle - Acmiya
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$2,686
Piano Jazzy
Antonio "Anton" Ribeiro
Painting - 45 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 17.7 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch
$729
Ourson Bulles white
Elodie Dengreville
Sculpture - 20 x 12 x 7 cm Sculpture - 7.9 x 4.7 x 2.8 inch
$898
Pedaling through the past
Kamo Ohanyan
Painting - 40 x 50 x 0.5 cm Painting - 15.7 x 19.7 x 0.2 inch
$350
Strength. Rebirth. Purify.
Maria Matveyeva
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$7,741
No prostitution Here Geisha
Philippe Shangti
Photography - 90 x 90 x 0.5 cm Photography - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.2 inch
$16,828
Untitled "Requiem 6",
Mahmoud Hamadani
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 77 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 30.3 x 0.4 inch
$7,500
Untitled "Requiem 5",
Mahmoud Hamadani
Fine Art Drawings - 56 x 77 x 1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 22 x 30.3 x 0.4 inch
$7,500
Measured Response: Biden to Putin April 2022
Lauren Naomi
Painting - 91.44 x 182.9 x 4 cm Painting - 36 x 72 x 1.6 inch
$16,211
Snoopy walking with Euro Bags gold series
Carlos Pun Art
Painting - 70 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$1,380
Attractive energy
Yahaira Cohinta Vannucchi
Painting - 136 x 84 x 3 cm Painting - 53.5 x 33.1 x 1.2 inch
$35,228
Vital energy
Yahaira Cohinta Vannucchi
Painting - 136 x 84 x 3 cm Painting - 53.5 x 33.1 x 1.2 inch
$35,228
White Still
Zoltan Gerliczki
Photography - 80 x 64.8 x 0.3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 25.5 x 0.1 inch
$2,200
Norigae No.2. Floor Lamp Light
WKND Lab
Design - 115.8 x 19.8 x 25.9 cm Design - 45.6 x 7.8 x 10.2 inch
$6,200
Silence anticipation
Stanislav Lazarov
Painting - 35 x 35 x 2 cm Painting - 13.8 x 13.8 x 0.8 inch
$393
Place Within Reach 3.
Petr Strnad
Painting - 42.4 x 30 x 0.1 cm Painting - 16.7 x 11.8 x 0 inch
$224
Composition no. 434
Sumit Mehndiratta
Painting - 34 x 46 x 3 cm Painting - 13.4 x 18.1 x 1.2 inch
$1,795
Composition No.349
Sumit Mehndiratta
Fine Art Drawings - 46 x 91 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.1 x 35.8 x 0 inch
$1,234
Composition No.318
Sumit Mehndiratta
Fine Art Drawings - 84 x 73.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 33.1 x 28.9 x 0 inch
$1,010
Alter Ego Token Candelabro
Alessandro Piano
Sculpture - 26 x 13 x 13 cm Sculpture - 10.2 x 5.1 x 5.1 inch
$449
Perfect Combination - Diptych
Kat Zhivetin
Painting - 70 x 50 x 1.5 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0.6 inch
$1,332
Serenity on the Horizon
Michael Milkin
Painting - 61.5 x 91.5 x 2.5 cm Painting - 24.2 x 36 x 1 inch
$5,800
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!