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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Bourgeois Big Top
Scott Troxel
Sculpture - 55.9 x 34.3 x 8.3 cm Sculpture - 22 x 13.5 x 3.25 inch
$1,661
Meditation
Gina Vor
Fine Art Drawings - 55.5 x 76 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 21.9 x 29.9 x 0 inch
$712
URBN City Mixed Media I
Sven Pfrommer
Painting - 40 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$819
Chanel n°5 bottle, Miss Chanel
Patrick Cornée
Sculpture - 27 x 20 x 6 cm Sculpture - 10.6 x 7.9 x 2.4 inch
$3,440
Le clown, le jongleur et la danseuse
Sabine Louriac
Painting - 65 x 50 x 0.3 cm Painting - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0.1 inch
$617
La tendresse est belle
Milcheva Emilia
Painting - 50 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$593
Louis Vuitton Superflat Monogram (Lemon)
Takashi Murakami
Print - 50 x 50 x 0.1 cm Print - 19.7 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$19,076
Je ne reconnais plus personne
Jérôme Mesnager
Print - 50 x 70 x 0.2 cm Print - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0.1 inch
$225
Coluche - Iconic portraits
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$712
Jean-Marc Barr
Arnaud Baumann
Photography - 40 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0 inch
$712
L'homme est la fleur de la Terre... (Terre d’enfants)
Olivier Messas
Sculpture - 56 x 30 x 6 cm Sculpture - 22 x 11.8 x 2.4 inch
$3,084
Casa amb jardi 1
Joan Hernández Pijuan
Print - 100 x 76 x 0.1 cm Print - 39.4 x 29.9 x 0 inch
$1,780
35cm Teddy CH Tribute, Chrome White
Naor
Sculpture - 35 x 25 x 28 cm Sculpture - 13.8 x 9.8 x 11 inch
$1,388
Medusa out of this world
Dervis Akdemir
Sculpture - 85 x 25 x 25 cm Sculpture - 33.5 x 9.8 x 9.8 inch
$1,978
Scratch on the Wire
Shepard Fairey (Obey)
Print - 60.96 x 60.96 x 0.2 cm Print - 24 x 24 x 0.1 inch
$534
The woods are lovely, dark and deep…
Daria Luhova
Painting - 81 x 72 x 6 cm Painting - 31.9 x 28.3 x 2.4 inch
$1,542
The unconscious activity of Finnegan's mind
Pol Ledent
Painting - 70 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,424
Green was the central colour
Pol Ledent
Painting - 70 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 27.6 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,780
Two Landscapes 66
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 48.3 x 32.9 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19 x 13 x 0 inch
$712
London, lithograpie originale
Tony Soulié
Print - 90 x 76 x 0.5 cm Print - 35.4 x 29.9 x 0.2 inch
$1,068
N° 1270 Massada. Le scribe.
R. Cavalié
Painting - 41 x 27 x 2 cm Painting - 16.1 x 10.6 x 0.8 inch
$593
Midnight walker
Marcus Cederberg
Photography - 70 x 50 x 0.1 cm Photography - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$237
Turbulence in Kyoto 546
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 0416
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 333
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 4415
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 4367
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 4059
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 3755
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Turbulence in Kyoto 3339
Yasuo Kiyonaga
Photography - 30.9 x 46.3 x 0.1 cm Photography - 12.2 x 18.2 x 0 inch
$949
Heart(black and white)-IV
Stanislav Bojankov
Painting - 120 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$2,373
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
Desaferramiento y renuncia
Esther Ramos
Painting - 130 x 200 x 2.4 cm Painting - 51.2 x 78.7 x 0.9 inch
$33,217
Arañando realidad
Esther Ramos
Painting - 97 x 130 x 2.2 cm Painting - 38.2 x 51.2 x 0.9 inch
$20,168
Banquise V (SG281)
Sylvie Guyomard
Sculpture - 22.5 x 22.5 x 3 cm Sculpture - 8.9 x 8.9 x 1.2 inch
$285
Banquise III (SG279)
Sylvie Guyomard
Sculpture - 22.5 x 22.5 x 3 cm Sculpture - 8.9 x 8.9 x 1.2 inch
$285
Banquise II (SG278)
Sylvie Guyomard
Sculpture - 22.5 x 22.5 x 3 cm Sculpture - 8.9 x 8.9 x 1.2 inch
$285
Banquise I (SG277)
Sylvie Guyomard
Sculpture - 22.5 x 22.5 x 3 cm Sculpture - 8.9 x 8.9 x 1.2 inch
$285
Cloud services
Marcus Cederberg
Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch
$237
Mesnager Contre Le Duo Basquiat Warhol
Jérôme Mesnager
Painting - 40 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,254
Le street art c’était mieux avant
Onemizer
Painting - 20.1 x 20.1 x 0.3 cm Painting - 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.1 inch
$1,780
White landscape winter snow 3d textured objects cement
Nataliia Krykun
Painting - 120 x 120 x 4 cm Painting - 47.2 x 47.2 x 1.6 inch
$4,745