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

Stormtrooper

Aurra Sing

Dengar

BanksyBrainwash

Gandalf

Boccacce (trittico)

Voyou 25

Brick Block Batman Dark Knight

Vive les fleurs et les fleurs

Bonne bouille VIII

Game boy

Super Marilyn

Super Einstein

Les Tontons flingueurs

Société suspecte

Marianne

AT-AT

Le grand cirque / Coffret + Gravure

Las Vegas - Budapest / Série SuperPOPsitions

Through the Looking Glass

Alice in Wonderland

Queen UK Elisabeth

Un monde meilleur

MMXX

MMXX

Multi Portrait

Jjirasi Vase #05. From the series Jjirasi Vase

Snoopy

Icecream YSL White Black Gold

Lipstick DIGI black and white limited with frame

Amour, gloire & ecstasy. Edition signed. 5

Stormtrooper orange YO!

Red line

Sun Mr.Hope

Le coeur de Mr.Hope

L'univers de Mr Hope

Bob Dylan 2

Monopoly Happy doodle

La gourmandise

The Castelloland Installation

NY City

Mystique's Cosmos Prisoner

Vive les fleurs et les fleurs cool

Jeu de Dames

Glitter cola

Enso: Facing the Pitch-black Void

Roboclusion Stormtrooper

Roboclusion Street Fighter Ryu

Roboclusion Kong Skate

Roboclusion Pop II

Roboclusion Pink Floyd

Homer Simpson luxe (1)

Stitch Luxe

Take out pearls

Glitter Pill

Marilyn e il coniglio

Bonbon Marbre Strié Hommage Lucio Fontana

L'abidjanaise

Tripe

Mr Hope king Love

La fillette psyché

Monopoly Heart doodle

Soupe à la Van Gogh

Serial soup

Race Face

One line dollar on white