Michael Pastoureau - Branco: História de Uma Cor

Purity, innocence, wisdom, peace, beauty.

Most of the ideas associated with white are virtues or positive qualities, though its ambivalence can also evoke emptiness, fear, and anguish. The color of gods and sacred rituals, of kings and aristocracy, white nevertheless went through a long and significant period of invisibility. Technical and scientific progress, from the end of the Middle Ages to the 17th century, pushed this color—along with black—to the margins of the new chromatic order, eventually creating its own "black-and-white" universe. In this sixth and final volume of his series on the history and symbolism of color in European societies, Michel Pastoureau traces the long and unsettling story of white in Europe, from Antiquity to the present day.