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

Like a prayer

Daisy petals aloft

Secret d'alcôve 6

N° 1225 Abu Gosh. Domaine privé.

Ichimane à la fleur blanche

Fruchten

Mélancolie florale

Space granduncle’s house dining room and kitchen colour

Space grandfather Wang’s house garden colour

Space grandfather Wang’s house colour

Fly together

Lièvre fleuri

Albatros en vol

Betta BW 5

L'Ecuyer / The Squire

In the port

The Feast Unveiled

Retour de pêche

Knar 6

What we see in others is a reflection of ourselves

Tag 35

Tag 34

Tag 31

Tag 29

Tag 28

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Tag 19

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Tag 17

The Storm

U,S ballet dance-11

U.S ballet dance-9

Spring landscape Spring view River Nature painting

Marathon 10

White sky

Stronger Together

Sailboat sans sailor

My Home : Dual Pandas (2)

Rose Notre-Dame 1

Le roi lion

Rose Notre-Dame 2

Michelagnolo

Michelagnolo

Process

Gribouillage

Reine de la nuit

La haine

Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux aux roses - Santa ROSA

Le monde coloré de Mr.Hope

Ballet 8

Biagio 282 Table Lamp

Vive les fleurs et le surf

John Fante

Rose garden, lichens & leaves #1

J'ai fait un rêve

Arrière-plan

Pink african Hermès

Land Rover - Surf's up

Affection

Borderline

Cage / Sans titre

Cage / Sans titre

Monster

Architecture II

Architecture II