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

New Hat - Narrative painting with Mona Lisa

Contemporary portrait "Don't Tell Me what to Do"

Contemporary portrait "Inside the Painting"

Zone 1

Madame Edwarda. Paris: Georges Visat

Heiðin mín

Stop aux déchets - série panneaux de signalisation

Stop - série La ville

Ville secrète

Summer

Infantile wizard

Thumbs Up!

Algues et insectes

Tribute

Power Ball

Aro Meta

Embrace II

Singe 2

Singe 1

Face of Women with Insects

Face of Women with Insects

Face of Women with Insects

L'envol - Portrait scène poétique semi figurative

A Gentle Request

Romy

Jordan

Karl

Black Picasso

Just the Way You Look Tonight

Winter's Dream

At the window

Mother and child

Doll

Les pins

The Spirit of Lust

What Does This Gaze Express?

Mountains

A & M Cafe - Arts et Métiers, Paris 3ème

Charming II

Les mousquetaires

La Rêve De L'arbre Aux Oiseaux

La espera

Flight of Meletus

Wind of Change

Danseuse de porcelaine

Seagull_01

Trail after Snow Day

Rendez Vous

Journey of hope

Borders Not Boundaries - 21st Century, Contemporary, Impressionism, Floral Women

Almas libres

Untitled (52)

Path in the snow, Saint Julien du Pinet

American Rhapsody

Wedding, Moments series

Little dancing queen

Martha My Dear

A very interesting face

Anansi Awakens

GPS

Cerámica

Philippe Zdar, (chalk)

Hercule

Amore e passione

Floral delicacy

Anastasia at the green and amber garden