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

Sunny Morning

Les filles d’honneur... (En scène)

Wild Tiger

Echo of rose. Floral etude

Green Skyline

Je ne ferai pas de mal à une mouche

Lilies

Nous ne sommes pas les derniers 211

White Chicken

Le swing brune

Big fish

Le Livre-chapeau

Ride a White Swan

Au Cabaret

In the garden

Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be

Why is my bow so small?

Elegant White Rabbit

Sédition

Passeur de brise

Emergence

Set of Four Carved Porcelain Vases

Alone

Culture 5

Couple

Figures

Eros bust

Demosthenes bust

Dionysus bust

Hermes Bust

At the sunny sea

Volupté

MarteauxKiss

White eagle. A keen eye.

Grâce immolée

Joyful Moment 2 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Children

Dream Dive

Partage des tâches - Figuration humoristique entre titre et oeuvre

VI p.m. Horses series

Compétition d'optimist à Perros-Guirec - scène de vie - paysage marin breton

Evening coast of Riomaggiore

Storm

Before the storm

Le temps des fleurs

Suite 347, 4 avril 1968, L. 16

Port de Cadiz

Chef Albert

Demosthenes Bust

Betta BW 44

Poolside Chic

Eros Bust

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Bust

Miniature Alexander the Great Bust

Madona

Prada Men's Fall Fashion show and Olivier Rousteing and His Collection, Diptych

Gorilla Big Emotion

Circus II

Vaincre

Still life with pomegrantes and dove

Three Sisters Design Sculpture

Against the Stream

Majestic Alps landscape

Snowy mountains

A girl awaiting the train

Greek God Antinous Bust

Couple Design Sculpture