White, black and grey are called achromatic colours. The word means “without colour”, as these colours in a sense are perceived as colourless. Read here about how achromatic colours relate to the visible spectrum of light.
White
In the Christian world, white is, and has been, a symbol of innocence and virginity (compare the white of brides), while in many Eastern cultures it is a sign of mourning and death; which it was for the pre-Christian Romans as well. White can also mean cleanliness or emptiness, in a more general meaning; youth, healing, peace, divination, blindness and surrender. White/silver is also one of the enamels of heraldry, where it symbolises "hope".
In India, a married woman who wears white is inviting to widowhood. It is a dangerous symbol of death and unhappiness, but also of calmness, peace, tranquillity, and resurrection. Widows wear white. Saraswati, a goddess, wears white.
In Mecaru [traditional offering ceremony of Bali], white symbolises the directions right and east, the god Iswara, and the holy number 4.
For the Chinese, apart from death, it also stands for age, and sometimes - as in the West - purity and virginity. In addition to that, white is one of the five basic colours of Chinese tradition; associated with metal, west, and autumn.
For the ancient Egyptians, white [Egyptian "hedj" or "shesep"] stood for purity and cleanliness, but also for sacredness. Sacred animals or objects were often depicted white, and the priests had white sandals. The name "Memphis" (a holy city), means "white walls". This colour was also the symbol of Upper Egypt, whose crown, "Nefer", was white.
The fact that common garments were also depicted white had a different reason. It was simply the colour of linen, the most common fabric.
The white of Egyptian art was made mainly from chalk and gypsum, although they also made and used lead white, a highly toxic colour.
Whitening, "albedo", is the second of the four phases of the alchemical Opus magnum, according to "Physika kai Mystika".
According to Böhme, white stands for "brilliance of God's majesty as a quintessence".
In other branches of alchemy white symbolises pure light, fire, sweet, God, the Moon and constellations Cancer, Aries, and Pisces; the White Rose is the lunar (Philosophical) tincture. White is also associated with Monday, and with Chinese Yang.
Black
"Any color, so long as it's black."
(Henry Ford)
Black is often the colour of sorrow, death and bad luck; also formality, authority, sexuality, mystery, and fear.
In the West, black is traditionally the colour worn by mourners. It might also imply restrained violence. In heraldry, black is one of the enamels, where it symbolises "prudence".
When the Chinese say they are really black, it means that they are having very bad luck. Black is also one of the five basic colours. It is associated with water, north, and winter.
In Hindu tradition black symbolises anger, lack of energy, negativity, evil and death. But it can also be used to keep evil away, for this purpose sometimes applied on a child's forehead or on the chin.
In Mecaru, black symbolises top and north, the god Vishnu, and is assigned the holy number 6. It is also the result of the centre, which is a mix of all colours and appears black, according to the Balinese. They call the centre "tengah", its holy number is 8, and its god is Shiva.
In ancient Egypt the view of this colour was entirely different. Black [Egyptian "kem"] symbolised birth and fertility. The Nile's regular inundations left black silt, crucial for agriculture, it was the source of life for Egypt; and it was associated with the god Osiris, the black one, who was killed by Seth and returned to life by his own wife and sister Isis; and with the underworld, which every night gave birth to the sun. Anubis, the god of embalming, was depicted as a black jackal, a well-known and widely recognised figure even amongst non-Egyptologists.
The name of Egypt was "kemet", the black land, due to the silt; and this colour had mainly positive implications. The sources of pigment were mainly soot from lamps (still called lamp black) and carbon; but they also burned or roasted ivory. Ivory black is still used by artists.
Blackening, "nigredo", is the first of the four phases of the alchemical Opus magnum, according to "Physika kai Mystika".
In different systems of alchemy, black stands for darkness, earth, bitter, plant; the planet Saturn and constellations Scorpio and Capricorn. And it can mean Saturday. In Feng Shui it is Yin.
By contrast, black strengthens our perception of every other colour. This is well known by artists. Black, however little, in a picture, makes other colours more clear, distinct, and vibrant.
Grey
Grey, the ultimate bore, might mean balance and dignity, timelessness and intelligence, but also old age and depression.
Ash grey symbolises Jupiter in esoteric tradition. Other traditions associate it with the Moon, with the constellation Virgo, and with Monday. In Chinese tradition it is Yin.
Grau, teurer Freund, ist alle Theorie,
Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum.
(Dear friend, all theory is grey,
And green the golden tree of life.)
(Goethe, Faust, Mephistopheles)
Previously published articles in the present series on colour:
Colours I : The Nature of Colour 1
Colours II : The Nature of Colour 2
Colours III: Function, Purpose, & Effect of Colour
Colours IV: Colours of Animals
Colours VI: Green in Focus – Religion, Life, Death, Sex, Witchcraft...
Colours VII: Red in Focus – Blood, Death, Love, Power...
Colours VIII: Blue in Focus – Royalty, Divinity, Loyalty...
All articles related to colour in my index, and that is more than the series above, can be found here.
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Black is my favourite colour for art works. Thanks for this exposure