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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Print, Venice, Giovanni Korompay

Giovanni Korompay

Print - 50 x 35.5 x 0.2 cm Print - 19.7 x 14 x 0.1 inch

€650

Painting, Mallorca, Basilio Escudero

Basilio Escudero

Painting - 27 x 35 x 2 cm Painting - 10.6 x 13.8 x 0.8 inch

€800

Sculpture, La source, Isabelle Jeandot

Isabelle Jeandot

Sculpture - 32 x 15 x 15 cm Sculpture - 12.6 x 5.9 x 5.9 inch

€2,400

Print, Barcelona, Laura Jordan

Laura Jordan

Print - 70 x 70 x 5 cm Print - 27.6 x 27.6 x 2 inch

€2,400

Fine Art Drawings, Sans titre, Otto Wols

Otto Wols

Fine Art Drawings - 19 x 14 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.5 x 5.5 inch

€8,000

Photography, Humility, Marek Pindroch

Marek Pindroch

Photography - 50 x 70 x 0.1 cm Photography - 19.7 x 27.6 x 0 inch

€175

Painting, Sans titre, Frédéric Fau

Frédéric Fau

Painting - 24 x 40 x 1.5 cm Painting - 9.4 x 15.7 x 0.6 inch

€500

Fine Art Drawings, La Voute, Venet Hervé

Venet Hervé

Fine Art Drawings - 80 x 60 x 3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 31.5 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch

€700

Fine Art Drawings, Untitled, Olivier Marin

Olivier Marin

Fine Art Drawings - 76 x 111 cm Fine Art Drawings - 29.9 x 43.7 inch

€1,500

Fine Art Drawings, Immersió 051, Oriol Texidor

Oriol Texidor

Fine Art Drawings - 42 x 30 x 4 cm Fine Art Drawings - 16.5 x 11.8 x 1.6 inch

€1,250

Print, Composition, Zao Wou-Ki

Zao Wou-Ki

Print - 56 x 76 cm Print - 22 x 29.9 inch

€2,450

Painting, Etude 120, Alexander Shandor

Alexander Shandor

Painting - 26 x 26 x 0.3 cm Painting - 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.1 inch

€712

Painting, Untamed, Lori Bagnérès

Lori Bagnérès

Painting - 40 x 30 x 1.5 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.6 inch

€2,360

Painting, Paysages 300, Xiu

Xiu

Painting - 50 x 20 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch

€600

Painting, Printemps III, Xiu

Xiu

Painting - 50 x 20 x 1 cm Painting - 19.7 x 7.9 x 0.4 inch

€600

Painting, Village II, Xiu

Xiu

Painting - 40 x 40 x 1 cm Painting - 15.7 x 15.7 x 0.4 inch

€600

Painting, Isotope, Michael Grine

Michael Grine

Painting - 45.7 x 61 x 1.9 cm Painting - 18 x 24 x 0.75 inch

€267

Painting, Escape, Cory Ciona

Cory Ciona

Painting - 30.48 x 152.4 x 3.81 cm Painting - 12 x 60 x 1.5 inch

€1,200

Painting, Whispering Night, Cory Ciona

Cory Ciona

Painting - 30.48 x 152.4 x 3.81 cm Painting - 12 x 60 x 1.5 inch

€1,200

Painting, Prospects, Cory Ciona

Cory Ciona

Painting - 40.64 x 121.92 x 2.54 cm Painting - 16 x 48 x 1 inch

€1,100

Painting, Harmony in change, Vera Hoi

Vera Hoi

Painting - 80 x 80 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 0.8 inch

€1,100

Painting, Roche nue, Frédéric Cadiou

Frédéric Cadiou

Painting - 24 x 30 x 0.5 cm Painting - 9.4 x 11.8 x 0.2 inch

€200 €160

Photography, White spring, Viet Ha Tran

Viet Ha Tran

Photography - 80 x 119.9 x 0.3 cm Photography - 31.5 x 47.2 x 0.1 inch

€2,225

Painting, Woodpile, Yuriy Demiyanov

Yuriy Demiyanov

Painting - 40 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 15.7 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch

€2,700 €2,295

Print, AL 2, Hans Hartung

Hans Hartung

Print - 76 x 56 cm Print - 29.9 x 22 inch

€2,800

Painting, Forêt 2, Serge Plagnol

Serge Plagnol

Painting - 50 x 65 x 0.2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0.1 inch

€650

Painting, Homeland, Wang Dianyu

Wang Dianyu

Painting - 30 x 60 x 3 cm Painting - 11.8 x 23.6 x 1.2 inch

€850

Sculpture, Lunar, Maria Guilbert

Maria Guilbert

Sculpture - 42 x 20 x 10 cm Sculpture - 16.5 x 7.9 x 3.9 inch

€2,200

Painting, La Solitude, Trichet Jacques

Trichet Jacques

Painting - 50 x 50 x 3 cm Painting - 19.7 x 19.7 x 1.2 inch

€660 €561