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

Sacrifice

Closed for now

Je ne reconnais plus personne

Hidden Intentions

Greek beach window

Coluche - Iconic portraits

Jean-Marc Barr

Terence Stamp

Paysage 801

White sheep

Paysage 703

Village II

Paysages 300

Geo Tracciati

Le roi dec

Pam Splash Rolex

L'homme est la fleur de la Terre... (Terre d’enfants)

Lumière Volée 7

Night coolness

Orwell

Balconies on a row

35cm Teddy CH Tribute, Chrome White

Medusa out of this world

Scratch on the Wire

LLambrec3

The woods are lovely, dark and deep…

Zone à défendre

Jardin d’hiver

The unconscious activity of Finnegan's mind

Green was the central colour

Two Landscapes 66

Landscape

London, lithograpie originale

LLambre1

Diàleg

N° 1270 Massada. Le scribe.

Supreme Lion

Near the well

Mesnager Contre Le Duo Basquiat Warhol

Diablotino

Rimbaud

International crétin

Turbulence in Kyoto 546

Turbulence in Kyoto 0416

Turbulence in Kyoto 333

Turbulence in Kyoto 4415

Turbulence in Kyoto 4367

Turbulence in Kyoto 4059

Turbulence in Kyoto 3755

Turbulence in Kyoto 3339

Heart(black and white)-IV

Le Legacy from Historia de Don Quichotte de la Mancha

Moi premis

Iris negre VI

Iris negre VI

Iris negre VI

PL6

Acotaciones 2

Ombra

Polychrome 10

Passages #812

Journal d'un graveur 3

Storm (1)

I Love You

Connection

Zèbre