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

Bodies&Spaces -6

Hey bro

Nature dialogue

Echoes of Grace - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, School Girl Uniform

Fossile du futur, brique de lait

Vessel of sensations. Figure of a meditating woman.

Cracks

Utility

Jeu caché

Knight

Fossile du futur, boite de peinture

Fossile du futur, tube de peinture

Fossile du futur, tube de colle

Mékalicorne

Presence #4. From The Golden Ex-voto Series

Flocon d'Azur

Softsculpture 1

Tattooed Queen

Kiss

Driade

Jour de fête III (1)

Tangerines and Candy

Wendy

Before the ballet

Autoportrait Marrakchi

Le roi dec

Daddy's girl

Astronome

Dismaland Castle (Jeff Gillette x Roamcouch)

Wounded Birds

Insomnia

Lydia

Wounded grass

Ocean's queen

Whispers of time

Blue-Eyed Innocence

Dessine moi une vie

Summer house

Negotiating with time 1

Posé

Couple - série scène de vie figurative

Good Old Soul Days - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Couple, Women, Men

End Of The Dry Land

Cats on Guard

Coming Back

Unfurling the Past

For a Moment

Vincit omnia veritas

Square of Love

Black Beauty

Saburtalo

Bound by Love

David's Journey

Dessin n°2 : La protégée

Massavo the Makokean

En la India

Regard profond

Whimsical Mother Alkebulan - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Portrait

You Become What You Think About - 21st Century, Contemporary, Portrait, Women

Don't Be Perfect, Be Real -21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait Women

Unfolding Horizons - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Women, Colourful

Reflection at the Bar -21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Men Entertainment

Histoire de règles et de cheveux

Eyes

Objekt #2. Serrasalmus (2)

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