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

Cavallo Arlecchino

Bird 2

Sans défense

Le petit chien blanc

Blue Sky White Owl

Flower Cat

Cavalier Arabe

Karl, Sadie & Bicker

El Fuego

Chiens N.5

PETITE NISHIKIGOI ELEGANCE IN METAL WHITE : MIZU NO KASAI WHISPERS

SUPREME ROBOTCAT : ALABASTER CYBERNETIC MAESTRO

WHITE SUMONMYOJI’S RESONANCE : A HARMONIOUS ODE TO ONMY?D?’S ENIGMATIC DANCE OF DUALITIES

Will Ferrell (II) - Los Angeles, CA 2007

La mariée à cheval

The Enigmatic Journey of Ninjacat : White Stealthy Whiskers

Meeting

Hykos

THE UNITED PANDASAN : SPECTRAL SYMMETRY SILVER & WHITE

THE UNITED PANDASAN : SPECTRAL SYMMETRY BLU & SILVER

Pingouin Blanc

Innocent Gazes

White Elegance

Le désert fleuri

Bowl of love

Pigeons

Dog

Chalama albâtre

White Cat with Attitude

Elegance

Banc d'Arguin

Sablaisetruche - Série Portrait Autruche personnifiée

Helfestruche - Série Portrait Autruche personnifiée

Cheval d 'Or

Cheval

Untitled 78

Goodnight

In Cacao, Bloodlines 03

White Dogs

Nounours Ballons Coeurs

Déjeuner dans l’herbe

Still life for bird temple #8

Hen

Isia - Territoires habités, relation homme animal

Cavalier du Maroc

Le Cavalier d'Arson 60 cm Ivoire

Howl

Awakening

Healing Greenland, Chunja & the dog

Healing Greenland, Chunja and The Monkey Brothers

Taureau

In the basement

Walk under the moon

Poisson pilot

Shhhhhhhh

See the sound

Smell of beard

Mémoire de fenêtre I

Ours polaire assis (pm) 7/8

Puppy Companions

Two monkeys

Boris

The Carousel En Fleur - Plate II

Pony

Party in the City

Suzaku