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

This is us, Vacation on the Happy Island series

Blanc XXVI

L'outil

Grandes vacances

Terre Promise

Tayssy

Au lieu d'un tableau

Hollywood Star 2

Arum

Déshabillé II

Brothers

Portrait of My Barber (At The Barber Shop)

Visage blanc

Enfant nomade

Relaxing time

Silver Peace

Young Girl Lotus

Distrait

Wedding

Wildflowers #1

It rains from the Sky

About Happiness

Falling Stars Les pids des reves- Tom & Jerry

Second pers sundown

Winter

Récompensé

L'ange

Sausage, Egg and Crinkle

Restaurant place des Vosges

Chambre #2

Geisha

Etreinte

La Nena XS

Marilyn I

Musing

Blackout Beauty

Bouledogue Français

Yelena - Purple (Rehaussé main)

Victory

Guernicouille de Pine d'Assaut (Tryptique complet)

Magnolia Blossom

Portrait de Leopold Zborowski (d'après)

Entrelazar 5

The way home

La Petite Fille

Monsieur le Jour, Madame la Nuit

La fille de Kazan - Portrait de femme

Memories 11

La nuit sans brise

King Kong Balls Blanc

Sun Shall Rise Again

Metamorphism 2

Untitled

Winter Calm

Encre II

Big Love: Majestic Eagle

Fille aux sacs poubelles

Freedom

Ce jour là

Portraits de mains

Destructuration 2/8

Montagne enneigée, et sapin

You look at me sadly, Nevo 1

Frutos del bosque

Solitaire

Don't Look Back, Your Life Isn't There Anymore -21st Century, Contemporary Women