The history of colours is also the history of their associations. Colours are cultural constructions, even when they arise from the image of fireworks: blue, red, and white have never carried the same meaning across nations or historical periods. White, which in the twentieth century became the emblem of a claimed neutrality, has not always been neutral: it was the colour of nobility, the background on which coats of arms were engraved, the mourning of kings, the luxury of courts, and also purity. And when I see this white mingling with blue and red, I think of all the symbolic meanings the colour has borne in heraldry and banners through the centuries. But here there are no coats of arms, no narratives, no symbols. We are inside a pure explosion: white is no longer a pigment; it becomes light. Has white always been light? Is that truly how prehistoric painters used it on the walls of Lascaux? I do not think so. Nor do I believe that, at that stage of humanity, white, or any colour, could be linked to a concept, to an abstract idea. These meanings emerged later, shaped by the history of painting, fashion, culture, and their many symbolic languages.Napex 25360

Sylvain Bellenger