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

Sans titre

Kilian

The beautiful midsummer night's dream

Soldier

Mandala

Introspection

Violetta

Raízes do Tempo

Sur le Sable III - Estampe en relief inspirée de la nature

If you don't stand for something

You look at me sadly, Nevo 1

Minimal Chaos 2

Déflagration 2

Le Vert Galant, Paris

Kyne & Nonchelee - Untitled (Pink)

Wild Flower I

Tableaux N° 1 et N° 2

Various States N1

Submission

Luz y sombra

Moon oculus

K1959

A longing no. 14

Urban Patterns - 5-panels

Blossom

Apolo White. Head Sculpture. From the series Apollo

Minion Banksy Coeur en relief

Sunrise

Sun Shall Rise Again

75 pétales

Vintage folding chair Ninfea

White cape

Porcelaine de Rêve - Bleue N°4

Train

La Ville des Chats

Sans-titre

Fenetre sur cour

Study for NULL (Does appearance produce bias #076)

Harlem Rose, Billie Holiday

The Tenderest Thing

Abandoned yard.

Rhythmogramm 183A

Mon loft à Brooklyn

Fragments d'émotion #6

A tree for two

Untitled #10

Le rêveur - série oiseaux

Avril 1982

Mode Shape - Plate 22

Winter

Duality

Noir miroir nr 002

Bas bleus

Series Fusion black and white

Le jour d'après

8 actos de genuflexión

ST-II

Monster

Flower

Skiers XII (December)

Rebirth

Big Love: Majestic Eagle

L'infinito in un gesto

Abstraction

Neck Tattoo

La Victoire de Samothrace