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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Petali di luce
Antonino Puliafico
Painting - 115 x 139 x 2 cm Painting - 45.3 x 54.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,024
Majestic Lion Sculpture
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 50 x 79 x 43 cm Sculpture - 19.7 x 31.1 x 16.9 inch
$710
Illuminated Blue & Grey Sculpture with Lampshade
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 46 x 15 x 13 cm Sculpture - 18.1 x 5.9 x 5.1 inch
$835
Every day is a gift
Patrick Cornée
Painting - 40 x 40 x 3 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 1.2 inch
$1,989 $1,790
Couleur abricot
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 140 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 55.1 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$2,223
La toque ou la plume
Béatrice Terra
Painting - 92 x 73 x 2 cm Painting - 36.2 x 28.7 x 0.8 inch
Sold
Impossible behaviour-11
Galya Popova
Fine Art Drawings - 90 x 60 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,872
Superman Sovietique
Richard Orlinski
Sculpture - 105 x 70 x 30 cm Sculpture - 41.3 x 27.6 x 11.8 inch
$21,060
Hidden Intentions
Dervis Akdemir
Painting - 100 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,531
White butterfly, bronze stripe
Svetlana Martin
Painting - 70 x 50 x 0.1 cm Painting - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$597
Bateau au mouillage, Nauplie, Péloponnèse
Matthieu Delfini
Painting - 81 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,164
La passionnée
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 99 x 75 x 3 cm Painting - 39 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$4,095
Plein les yeux
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 99 x 75 x 3 cm Painting - 39 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$4,095
Le grand soir
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 99 x 75 x 3 cm Painting - 39 x 29.5 x 1.2 inch
$4,095
Nice warm day
Serhii Cherniakovskyi
Painting - 50 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$1,200 $840
Woman with orange flowers
Dondi Schwartz
Painting - 50 x 70 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$936
Le Legacy from Historia de Don Quichotte de la Mancha
Salvador Dali
Print - 75.9 x 56.2 cm Print - 29.88 x 22.13 inch
$3,000
Let's go hiking
Katharina Hormel
Painting - 100 x 70 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 1.2 inch
$1,404
Le printemps, lithographie originale avec un passage au carborundum
Claude Gaveau
Print - 57 x 71 x 0.05 cm Print - 22.4 x 28 x 0 inch
$573
In search for a perfect day
Viet Ha Tran
Photography - 45 x 59.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 17.7 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$900
Mais je ne ferai pas de mal à une mouche
Béatrice Terra
Painting - 81 x 65 cm Painting - 31.9 x 25.6 inch
$2,574
What's Taking Them So Long?
Wencke Uhl
Painting - 100 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch
$2,300
Trumpet On Man Sculpture
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 32 x 25 x 24 cm Sculpture - 12.6 x 9.8 x 9.4 inch
$167
S217 Le Derviche Tourneur -1
Jacques Tenenhaus
Sculpture - 45 x 25 x 23 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 9.8 x 9.1 inch
$3,510
Harry Brant in Connecticut
Manuel Santelices
Fine Art Drawings - 27.9 x 21.6 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11 x 8.5 x 0.1 inch
$700
Vetements fall 21
Manuel Santelices
Fine Art Drawings - 30.5 x 22.9 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 12 x 9 x 0.1 inch
$600
Imaginaire
Martine Fauve Dechavanne
Painting - 96 x 68 x 4 cm Painting - 37.8 x 26.8 x 1.6 inch
$3,978
Winter on the Desna
Andrii Chebotaru
Painting - 80 x 100 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 39.4 x 1 inch
$4,400
Miniature Alexander the Great bust
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 19 x 12 x 12 cm Sculpture - 7.5 x 4.7 x 4.7 inch
$90
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart bust
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 35 x 23 x 25 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 9.1 x 9.8 inch
$202
Wrapping Bonbon Blanc
Laurence Jenkell
Sculpture - 23 x 8.5 x 4 cm Sculpture - 9.1 x 3.3 x 1.6 inch
$2,925
Still Life in White
Yuriy Demiyanov
Painting - 60 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 23.6 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch
$4,446
My children's magical garden
Yehor Dulin
Painting - 100 x 140 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 55.1 x 0.8 inch
$4,000
Before A Baby Comes Out Of Its Mother's Body (10 sculptures)
Wenqin Chen
Sculpture - 18 x 15 x 15 cm Sculpture - 7.1 x 5.9 x 5.9 inch
$14,040
Alpine mountain
Behshad Arjomandi
Painting - 100.1 x 81 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.9 x 0.8 inch
$1,030
What my eyes have seen
Emmanuel Ojebola
Painting - 121.9 x 91.4 x 2.5 cm Painting - 48 x 36 x 1 inch
$4,500
Royal Princess Bust
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 41 x 27 x 25 cm Sculpture - 16.1 x 10.6 x 9.8 inch
$167
Silince Design Sculpture
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 25 x 10 x 10 cm Sculpture - 9.8 x 3.9 x 3.9 inch
$167
