THE COLOUR WHITE

MEANING

White is a positive colour and is associated with purity, innocence, light, brilliance, and goodness. It can symbolise new beginnings and possibilities and softness and perfection. It is associated with cleanliness and brightness.

The colour of snow, white is often used to represent coolness and simplicity. 

HISTORY

In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, and Romans wore white togas as symbols of citizenship. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity. Greek and Roman temples were faced with white marble, and beginning in the 18th century, with the advent of neoclassical architecture, white became the most common colour of new churches, capitols, and other government buildings, especially in the United States. It was also widely used in 20th century modern architecture as a symbol of modernity and simplicity.

White is an important colour for almost all world religions. The pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has worn white since 1566, as a symbol of purity and sacrifice. In Islam, and in the Shinto religion of Japan, it is worn by pilgrims. In Western cultures and in Japan, white is the most common colour for wedding dresses, symbolizing purity and virginity. In many Asian cultures, white is also the colour of mourning.

White was one of the first colours used in art. The Lascaux Cave in France contains drawings of bulls and other animals drawn by palaeolithic artists between 18,000 and 17,000 years ago. Palaeolithic artists used calcite or chalk, sometimes as a background, sometimes as a highlight, along with charcoal and red and yellow ochre in their vivid cave paintings.

White was the dominant colour of architectural interiors in the Baroque period and especially the Rococo style that followed it in the 18th century. Church interiors were designed to show the power, glory, and wealth of the church.

White was also a fashionable colour for both men and women in the 18th century. Men in the aristocracy and upper classes wore powdered white wigs and white stockings, and women wore elaborate embroidered white and pastel gowns.

White was the universal colour of both men and women's underwear and of sheets in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was unthinkable to have sheets or underwear of any other colour. The reason was simple; the manner of washing linen in boiling water caused colours to fade. When linen was worn out, it was collected and turned into high-quality paper.

The absoluteness of white appealed to modernist painters. It was used in its simplest form by the Russian suprematist painter Kazimir Malevich  in his 1917 painting 'the white square,' the companion to his earlier 'black square.' It was also used by the Dutch modernist painter Piet Mondrian. His most famous paintings consisted of a pure white canvas with grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and rectangles of primary colours.

Black and white also appealed to modernist architects, such as Le Corbusier (1887–1965). He said a house was "a machine for living in" and called for a "calm and powerful architecture" built of reinforced concrete and steel, without any ornament or frills.  

In the 20th century, white was the colour of choice for architects of the Modernist movement, with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer championing the colour for its minimal and stark aesthetic and using white to emphasize the clean lines and geometric forms of buildings.

WHITE AND BRANDING

White is a reflective colour that represents purity, sophistication and efficiency and is often used by luxury brands.

Many brands which use white as a central colour tend to pair it with black or grey.