Kazimir Malevich’s striking painting – White on White – beckons to visitors from a wall of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. At first it seems that white is all there is – white paint on a white canvass. Looking for more than a fleeting moment however reveals that there are two shades of white carefully placed on the canvass and, actually, there are more. That’s when this piece of art comes alive by reaching out to your consciousness and, if you stand still rather than shaking your head and walking away, you can experience the white space alchemists seek to practice their art.

Malevich describes it this way:

I tore through the blue lampshade of color limitation and came out into the white. After me comrade aviators. Sail into the chasms – sail forth – the white free chasm of infinity is before us.