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

Invierno

Desert signe LV (SG246)

Concept #100

Life after fiction

Constellation Christique

Marine abstraite 2024-51 BIS

Reflets du matin... (Esprit Voile)

Regard

Visual Dance - White and Silver

Yasa

Andhana

Blinding Lights

Sans titre

Blue heart of the planet 1

Home

Une nuit pluvieuse

La barque

Fleurs d'été

Dancing in Hues

Old bath

Hidden light - Green and purple

Coastal ripples

Your rules my war - Blue

Cathédrale – Jeu de lignes

Magnolia

Greek olive tree

Peinture 01-2024-08

Disapearing 5

Peinture 02-2025-18

Black Manhattan

Abstract R 2411

Abstract 2237

Abstract 21112

Misunderstanding

De profundis

Visayas N I (SG267)

Cariatides

Composición en blanco y negro

Fields.2

Tellement une belle vie

Flux de l'aimant

Flux de l'aimant

One love

In the shade of the apricot tree

105

A Pulp Fiction pop art tribute

Lithosphere 200

Lithosphere 207

Café de Paris

Abstraction 152

Fairytales

Minimal Forms 02

With strength and grace 02

Magnolia - Selene

Spring Feeling

Lucky Luke on Keith's Dog (plan du métro de Paris)

Fragile Beauty III

Untold story

What Party White

Peinture 01-2024-07

Fast Light

Two Halves Make A Whole Handmade Sculpture for Home Decor

Chair Duet

Mosaico en ajedrez

Pareja

Le cailloux dans la chaussure