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

Diamonds

Girl gold Banksy

Bubble queen

Van Gogh

Spaceman Richie (hand-retouched)

Green vespa ride

Cousteau I

Mysterious Look

Luxury Art Toffee - CC White

Heart white - Love, Amour, Amore, Liebe 3D plaster

Amor in white - Love, Amour, Amore, Liebe 3D plaster

Love - Love, Amour, Amore, Liebe 3D plaster

Grin guard

Flight over the city

Rolex Submariner Black Blue

L'art est partout

Rien d'impossible

Creep

Jim Morrisson

Snoopy walking with Euro Bags gold series

Bugs Bunny on fire - Basquet Ball - First Collectors Series

Baseball Bugs Bunny - The Million Home Run

Sneaker Nike Air Jordan 1 Taille 43

Friends

New religion

Scrooge McDuck Money Maker tag

The rider

Place your beats

Flawless

Rolex Silver

Goldorak X

Darth Vader II

Jean Grey II

Untitled (All communication must cease)

Roger Federer

Hommage à Freddie

Home

K7

Summer mood

Medium Doll, Elie Saab Tribute 2022 - Elegance

NAPOleonRoom

Disco volante Boston Terrier

Corrida

Les Potes

Duo de Pote

Shoot the bank 2013

They Know the way

Kiss street

Chanel

Les transports du temps passé / noir et blanc

Vespa Rome Colisée Sketchbook

Always Be Yourself

Only God

MBAPPLE

Intervention

Pipikachu

Just the way you are

Luxury Art Toffee - Luxury Fashion

Airmax 90

Like a prayer

Ride city

Kurt Cobain

Thy will be done

Meltdown - Out of the blue

Sodomie mon amie

Shadok Pietre