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

Flowering tree

Ocean Music

Dollar James Bond

Entre les pierres

Close to you

Lewis Carroll - Die jagd nach dem snark

JR au Palais de Tokyo, 28 Août 2020, 16H12, Paris

Tigre du Bengale. Inde

33

Mad max shelter

Salome's dance

Lilac on the Table

Natures Mortes

Impossible behaviour-11

Contraste

Cats

Marilyn

Ma femme est une fête, 50

Ma femme est une fête, 19

Artists Against Torture

Voyage invisible

Berlin Suite

Inflatabale

We Don't Need No Education

Stella terra

Gratitude for the every moment

Peace Out Astronaut

Paysages 603

Composition 119

Geo Tracciati

Memories of a glacier

Fuzzy Grace

The 50

Size XL - Tout ira bien N°2

Turquoise Blue Wave XL 3

Le Grand Café

35cm CH Tribute, bi color white and gold Teddy

Léopard

Pop Artstrong

Standing bear

It’s been pouring

Mouvement

Blossoms II

Pink corner windows

Testa antica

This Rain Will Pass

Series Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding, winter mountains white 3D plaster

Enchantement… (Expression libre)

En solitaire… (paysage abstrait 2020)

Torrent36_8617

Nymphée

Spacecolour 14

Invader 2 - XL

Les autres

Ourson Teddy Chanel Marbre (1)

La Cloche

Beautiful day in Venice

Another Day In Paradise

Le grand saut

AstroBoy par Aiiroh & Namisen

XXXL Abstract Antarctica (Diptych)

Saigon blur LXX

Saint Georges et le dragon

Snoopy Comic Strip Reverso 1985

Sans titre 13

Sans titre 12