whıte color
White is the color of milk and fresh snow, the color produced by the combination of all the colors of the visible spectrum. As a symbol, white is the opposite of black, and often represents light in contrast with darkness. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with innocence, perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, lightness, and exactitude.
- History -
White was one of the first colors used by paleolithic artists; they used lime white, made from ground calcite or chalk, sometimes as a background, sometimes as a highlight, along with charcoal and red and yellow ochre in their vivid cave paintings. In ancient Egypt, white was connected with the goddess Isis. The priests and priestesses of Isis dressed only in white linen, and it was used to wrap mummies. In Greece and other ancient civilizations, white was often associated with mother's milk. In Greek mythology, the god Zeus was nourished at the breast of the nymph Amalthea. In the Talmud, milk was one of four sacred substances, along with wine, honey, and the rose. The ancient Greeks saw the world in terms of darkness and light, so white was a fundamental color.
- History -
White was one of the first colors used by paleolithic artists; they used lime white, made from ground calcite or chalk, sometimes as a background, sometimes as a highlight, along with charcoal and red and yellow ochre in their vivid cave paintings. In ancient Egypt, white was connected with the goddess Isis. The priests and priestesses of Isis dressed only in white linen, and it was used to wrap mummies. In Greece and other ancient civilizations, white was often associated with mother's milk. In Greek mythology, the god Zeus was nourished at the breast of the nymph Amalthea. In the Talmud, milk was one of four sacred substances, along with wine, honey, and the rose. The ancient Greeks saw the world in terms of darkness and light, so white was a fundamental color.
According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, Apelles (4th century BC) and the other famous painters of ancient Greece used only four colors in their paintings; white, red, yellow and black. For painting, the Greeks used lead white, made by a long and laborious process. The early Christian church adopted the Roman symbolism of white as the color of purity, sacrifice and virtue. In Medieval art, the white lamb became the symbol of the sacrifice of Christ on behalf of mankind. White was also the symbolic color of the transfiguration. The Gospel of Saint Mark describes Jesus' clothing in this event as "shining, exceeding white as snow." In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, white was commonly worn by widows as a color of mourning.
White was the dominant color of architectural interiors in the Baroque period and especially the Rococo style that followed it in the 18th century. White was also a fashionable color 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 color of both men and women's underwear and of sheets in the 18th and 19th century. It was unthinkable to have sheets or underwear of any other color. The reason was simple; the manner of washing linen in boiling water caused colors 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 colors.
- In Nature -
When we think about the white color in nature, the first of all we think about snow and clouds. Snow is a mixture of air and tiny ice crystals. When white sunlight enters snow, very little of the spectrum is absorbed; almost all of the light is reflected or scattered by the air and water molecules, so the snow appears to be the color of sunlight, white. Sometimes the light bounces around inside the ice crystals before being scattered, making the snow seem to sparkle.
Clouds are white for the same reason as ice. They are composed of water droplets or ice crystals mixed with air, very little light that strikes them is absorbed, and most of the light is scattered, appearing to the eye as white. Shadows of other clouds above can make clouds look gray, and some clouds have their own shadow on the bottom of the cloud.
Most white animals have their color as a form of camouflage in winter.
- Associations -
Innocence, sacrifice, beginning, something new, wedding, cleanliness, ghosts, phantoms.
- Names -
Alba, Albine, Blanche, Bianca, Jennifer, Genevieve, Fiona, Gwendoline, Pearl, Margarita, Margaret, Greta, Camille, Daisy, Lily, Lili, Magnolie, Jasmine, Yasemin, Leyla.
- In Music/Cinema/Literature/Art -
''Trois Couleurs: Blanc'' by Krzysztof Kieślowski, ''White album'' Beatles, ''White calm'' by Salvador Dali, ''White Fang'' by Jack London.
Source: Wikipedia
When we think about the white color in nature, the first of all we think about snow and clouds. Snow is a mixture of air and tiny ice crystals. When white sunlight enters snow, very little of the spectrum is absorbed; almost all of the light is reflected or scattered by the air and water molecules, so the snow appears to be the color of sunlight, white. Sometimes the light bounces around inside the ice crystals before being scattered, making the snow seem to sparkle.
Clouds are white for the same reason as ice. They are composed of water droplets or ice crystals mixed with air, very little light that strikes them is absorbed, and most of the light is scattered, appearing to the eye as white. Shadows of other clouds above can make clouds look gray, and some clouds have their own shadow on the bottom of the cloud.
Most white animals have their color as a form of camouflage in winter.
- Associations -
Innocence, sacrifice, beginning, something new, wedding, cleanliness, ghosts, phantoms.
- Names -
Alba, Albine, Blanche, Bianca, Jennifer, Genevieve, Fiona, Gwendoline, Pearl, Margarita, Margaret, Greta, Camille, Daisy, Lily, Lili, Magnolie, Jasmine, Yasemin, Leyla.
- In Music/Cinema/Literature/Art -
''Trois Couleurs: Blanc'' by Krzysztof Kieślowski, ''White album'' Beatles, ''White calm'' by Salvador Dali, ''White Fang'' by Jack London.
Source: Wikipedia