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

Abstract 2368

Abstract 22124

Personajes en blanco y negro

Catch of the day

Marine abstraite 2024-50

Make your dreams happen

Plexus

Not With Me!

28 mai 2022

4 Avril 2022

1 aout 2021

Marine abstraite 82

Unpredictable past - Paesaggio Poetico

Drifting

Wise Man

Marine abstraite 2023-06

Strata #25

Kristina 2

Time shrinks

Piste blanche

Muted Symphony

Composición blanco y negro

Whispers in the Dark

57 de 2019

Sea Foam and Wind

Composición en blanco y negro

Abstract 2345

Abstract 2343

Abstract 2342

Composition

Greek olive tree

Nous sommes la littérature

Le chat sauvage

L 1977-3

Patternstory 17.

17 octobre 2022

29 mai 2021

Sparkle of Rain

White spring

Resilence

As it was

We Carry within

Ressort

Neptune

Leaving The World Behind

Peinture 07-2027-36

Abstract 2458

Moonlit Memories

One breath

L'étoffe des destins

All Things Begin and End in Eternity

Entrelacs 4

Mixité

Americana Lyrics

Cachet faisant foi

Coastal essence II

Lifetime

Coastal essence

The Woman Who Defeated Pain (Frida Kahlo) Letterpress

Black 01

Peinture 04-2024-23

Drifting

The Love we Share

Awakening Together

Abstract R 2411

Parthénia