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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Subcategories

White

Natures Mortes

Happy Hours

Testa antica

Close to you

X-men Tornade - Storm

Sans titre

Sans titre

Artists Against Torture

Voyage invisible

Berlin Suite

Inflatabale

Je ne ferai pas de mal à une mouche

We Don't Need No Education

Stella terra

White abstract landscape in 3D

Pop Artstrong

Peace Out Astronaut

Paysages 603

Composition 119

Geo Tracciati

Fuzzy Grace

The 50

35cm CH Tribute, bi color white and gold Teddy

At the end of the tunnel

Léopard

Sans titre, Exit serie

Pop Artstrong

It’s been pouring

Blossoms II

Pink corner windows

A la tienne

Enchantement… (Expression libre)

En solitaire… (paysage abstrait 2020)

Torrent36_8617

Spacecolour 14

Composition 1

Flowers for you

Ourson Teddy Chanel Marbre (1)

Golden mountain

La Cloche

Acquisition

Beautiful day in Venice

Another Day In Paradise

White sunset (1)

The storm

AstroBoy par Aiiroh & Namisen

Cats

Découverte de l'acide I

Mouvement

Memories of a glacier

The blue veil

Sans titre 13

Sans titre 12

Mystery Waterfall L 8

Amour Toujours

Snoozing in Sunshine

Drawing 427

Printemps III

Paranoïa

Composition No. 385

Drawing 335

Paysages 301

Barcelona 1

Dans la brume

Moon

Hard Cheese