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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Little dancing queen
DB Waterman
Painting - 100 x 70 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 27.6 x 0.8 inch
$4,046
Shakespeare's Histories, 1883
Robert Robinson
Sculpture - 30 x 24 x 5 cm Sculpture - 11.8 x 9.4 x 2 inch
$982
Porsche Sunset
Angélique Dufossé
Painting - 50 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$1,838
Amore e passione
Kristina Mallen
Painting - 65 x 100 x 0.1 cm Painting - 25.6 x 39.4 x 0 inch
$1,907
Invader Marilyn urban wall
Lasveguix
Painting - 61 x 46 x 3 cm Painting - 24 x 18.1 x 1.2 inch
$1,329
Heart on white - Love, Amour, Amore, Liebe 3D white plaster
Nataliia Krykun
Painting - 7 x 7 x 1 cm Painting - 2.8 x 2.8 x 0.4 inch
$116
Heart - Love, Amour, Amore, Liebe 3D white plaster
Nataliia Krykun
Painting - 7 x 7 x 1 cm Painting - 2.8 x 2.8 x 0.4 inch
$116 $92
Shoot the bank financial times 2013
JP Malot
Painting - 84 x 59 cm Painting - 33.1 x 23.2 inch
$2,890
Shoot the bank sur plaque métal Radio Generation
JP Malot
Painting - 85 x 100 cm Painting - 33.5 x 39.4 inch
$1,849
Rolex Daytona Silver Blue
Vincent Sabatier
Print - 70 x 50 x 0.1 cm Print - 27.6 x 19.7 x 0 inch
$114
Échec et Mat - Mécanique de l'esprit - série Collages
Karine Barbier (dite Ka Bé)
Print - 100 x 60 x 0.3 cm Print - 39.4 x 23.6 x 0.1 inch
$1,734
Equilibrium equation
Konovalov Igor
Painting - 170 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 66.9 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$4,046
Taking a warm bath
Konovalov Igor
Painting - 110 x 180 x 2 cm Painting - 43.3 x 70.9 x 0.8 inch
$4,046
Contemporary portrait - Near the Sea
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 60 x 80 x 1.5 cm Painting - 23.6 x 31.5 x 0.6 inch
$1,503
Contemporary portrait - Autumn Walk
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 80 x 55 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 21.7 x 0.6 inch
$1,503
PETITE NISHIKIGOI ELEGANCE IN METAL WHITE : MIZU NO KASAI WHISPERS
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 40 x 47 x 63 cm Sculpture - 15.7 x 18.5 x 24.8 inch
$15,604
URBANCAT MAGNIFICO : BLACK METROPOLIS MUSE
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 150 x 90 x 60 cm Sculpture - 59.1 x 35.4 x 23.6 inch
$34,676
SUPREME ROBOTCAT : ALABASTER CYBERNETIC MAESTRO
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 100 x 60 x 50 cm Sculpture - 39.4 x 23.6 x 19.7 inch
$20,806
Pandason’s White : A Lilliputian Ballet of Chromatic Marvels
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 130 x 95 x 95 cm Sculpture - 51.2 x 37.4 x 37.4 inch
$33,520
WHITE SUMONMYOJI’S RESONANCE : A HARMONIOUS ODE TO ONMY?D?’S ENIGMATIC DANCE OF DUALITIES
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 130 x 120 x 80 cm Sculpture - 51.2 x 47.2 x 31.5 inch
$33,520
Minion Banksy Coeur en relief
Vincent Duchêne
Sculpture - 25 x 15 x 8 cm Sculpture - 9.8 x 5.9 x 3.1 inch
$1,387
Si je t'attrape!
Frany La Chipie
Sculpture - 55 x 35 x 35 cm Sculpture - 21.7 x 13.8 x 13.8 inch
$2,543
The Enigmatic Journey of Ninjacat : White Stealthy Whiskers
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 60 x 80 x 50 cm Sculpture - 23.6 x 31.5 x 19.7 inch
$17,338
THE UNITED PANDASAN : SPECTRAL SYMMETRY SILVER & WHITE
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 55 x 45 x 45 cm Sculpture - 21.7 x 17.7 x 17.7 inch
$13,870
THE UNITED PANDASAN : SPECTRAL SYMMETRY BLU & SILVER
Hiro Ando
Sculpture - 55 x 45 x 45 cm Sculpture - 21.7 x 17.7 x 17.7 inch
$13,870
Le petit chien blanc
Patrick Moya
Painting - 80 x 80 x 4 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.6 inch
$3,699
Street Knowledge (N.W.A)
Mark Drew
Painting - 121.9 x 121.9 x 3.8 cm Painting - 48 x 48 x 1.5 inch
$20,000
I Wanna Blow Up, Stack My Dough (The Notorious B.I.G)
Mark Drew
Painting - 91.4 x 91.4 x 3.8 cm Painting - 36 x 36 x 1.5 inch
$19,500
L'homme augmenté
Violeta Mouysset dite Mvili
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$1,618
Are you Humain ?
Violeta Mouysset dite Mvili
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$1,618
La colère des Dieux
Violeta Mouysset dite Mvili
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$1,618
Homo numericus
Violeta Mouysset dite Mvili
Painting - 80 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$1,618
Happiness
Rinalds Vanadzins
Painting - 79.8 x 79.8 x 1.8 cm Painting - 31.4 x 31.4 x 0.7 inch
$2,500
Nounours Ballons Coeurs
Angélique Dufossé
Painting - 60 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,144
Pecan Pie (large signed giclee on canvas)
Doug Bloodworth
Print - 111.8 x 139.7 x 0.3 cm Print - 44 x 55 x 0.1 inch
$1,200
New York Times (large signed giclee on canvas)
Doug Bloodworth
Print - 111.8 x 139.7 x 0.3 cm Print - 44 x 55 x 0.1 inch
$1,200
Contemporary portrait "Photo for Memory"
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 80 x 55 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 21.7 x 0.6 inch
$1,503
Contemporary portrait "Disco Club"
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 100 x 65 x 2.2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 25.6 x 0.9 inch
$2,890
Contemporary portrait "My General"
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 100 x 65 x 2.2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 25.6 x 0.9 inch
$2,890
Contemporary portrait "At Night"
Nataliya Bagatskaya
Painting - 80 x 60 x 1.5 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.6 inch
$1,503
Pomme - Vegas City of light
Dom'One
Sculpture - 45 x 42 x 42 cm Sculpture - 17.7 x 16.5 x 16.5 inch
$2,196
Walk under the moon
Anatoly Varvarov
Painting - 100 x 120 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 47.2 x 0.8 inch
$2,277
