“Limewash has been associated with man’s dwelling places ever since the birth of humanity; the stones are calcinated, ground, distempered in water, and the walls are made of a very pure white: a white which has an extraordinary beauty.

If the house is white all over, the form of things stands out without the possibility of confusion; the volume emerges sharply; the color of objects is categorical. Limewash is absolute, everything stands out against it and is inscribed on it absolutely. . . .”

—Le Corbusier; quoted in The Furniture of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld by Daniele Baroni, 1977.