The meaning of colors: White

Malevich: White on White 

Just one year after the beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Kazimir Malevich painted “White on White”, arguably one of the most radical works of art of the time. The painting, a 31”x31” oil on canvas made of two overlapping squares in different shades of white, does not depict anything besides shapes and is one of the first abstract paintings in modern history.  

He was thrilled that a new society was about to take shape, one where social differences and materialism would clear out to make room for spiritual feelings. He states: “To the Suprematist, the visual phenomena of the objective world are, in themselves, meaningless; the significant thing is feeling, as such, quite apart from the environment in which it is called forth...I have transformed myself IN THE ZERO OF FORM and dragged myself out of the rubbish-filled pool of academic art. I have torn through the lampshade of colour limitations, and come out into the white. I have conquered the lining of the Heavenly, have torn it down and, making a bag, put in colours and tied it with a knot. Sail forth! The white, free chasm, infinity is before us.” 

For Malevich, white was the ultimate color for this new world, a new society ready to be filled with an array of possibilities; white is the ultimate symbol of hope. “White, Malevich believed, was the color of infinity and signified a realm of higher feeling, a utopian world of pure form that was attainable only through non-objective art,” according to Moma. 

What is white? 

How do we perceive white? Does it even exist? We perceive it always in relation to its surroundings, and its purity depends on the light shining on it. Is it warm? Is it cold? Is the white surface reflective or opaque? Do we perceive white, or indeed any color, with our visual senses or with all senses? Does white remind us of the taste of milk? Or powdered sugar? Or maybe the tactile sensation of touching fresh snow? Suddenly, we realize we might not even have the right words for it, as “white” might no longer be enough to describe our experiences. 

I always loved the feeling of walking in the snow, with everything around you slowly becoming engulfed by white, and all sounds are muffled as the snowflakes quietly cascade down. It is almost an ethereal atmosphere; everything is quiet, cold, perfect, clean. In this picture, white is the color of something pure and uncontaminated, delicate, and ephemeral (but just wait a few hours and the snow will turn brown with dirt); it’s almost like white maintains its innocence until it is in contact with the muddy reality of this world.  White is an absolute color, the exact opposite of black, and for this, they are both unique in the spectrum of colors.  

Is white even a color? As we have seen in the previous chapters, if we look at light, white is the sum of all color light waves, and Newton proved it by splitting it into a rainbow with a glass prism. If we look at an object, white is instead the absence of all colors because it reflects all color wavelengths and absorbs none. White can, therefore, contain a powerful abstract symbol that signifies the absence of things. It can be perceived as something totally empty, waiting to be filled or contaminated with life. 

How many times have you sat on the table staring at a blank piece of paper in front of you, not knowing yet for sure what to draw or write? A white sheet of paper is rarely intended to remain empty, and if it does, it would be a bold statement. Maybe you want to draw or write something as simple as a birthday card, but you are staring at it thinking of all the infinite possibilities you now have in your hands. The white page, clean and pure, is waiting to be filled by you. And it can be anything.  

White then is the color of a new beginning, and Malevich knew it very well. For this reason it is the color of the wedding dress, at least in the West and in Japan. Doctors wear white, and so do kids on their christening day. These clothes use white to symbolize purity, cleanliness, efficiency, calmness, but also the start of something new. It is the color of optimism and anticipation. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s a weak color. White expects great things from you, as the blank canvas looks to you to fill it. 

A white space is relaxing because it is unpolluted. White makes you feel safe, creating an environment where your mind can be empty and finds relaxation. It reduces clutter and gives you clarity. White space also gives other elements of the room to breathe. In modern architecture, buildings are mostly white because they were made to reflect as much light as possible; they had large windows and light furniture as opposed to the heavy upholstered ones, and most walls were painted white.  

White in Nature 

In nature, apart from snow and a few minerals, white exists at the boundaries of life: it is the color of the majority of eggs, the color of milk, both seen as the beginning of a new life. On the other hand, it is also the color of bones, bringing with it connotations of death and decay. It is possible, according to the Japanese historian Shirakawa Shizuka, that the origin of the Chinese character for white (白, Shiro in Japanese) is indeed the image of a skull. Contrary to Western or European culture where white is used for weddings and black for funerals, in China white is associated with death. It is seen as the beginning of a new life in the eternal cycle of rebirth, so during funerals people attending instead don white to signify their loved one’s entry into gateway from death into a new life as rebirth. In Japan, white is considered a color of spiritual purity and simplicity; however, like China, it also represents the color of death and mourning. This interesting dichotomy in Japanese culture’s interpretation of white suggests that even death, something widely considered grim and melancholic, is viewed as peaceful and pure. As Japanese people believe in the afterlife, death represents the peaceful journey a soul embarks on following a life lived on earth, which may give insight into why the color white is so heavily intertwined with this process.