Chalk has been used as a white pigment and drawing material since prehistoric times — both red and white chalk drawings appear in prehistoric cave art. The chalk cliffs of southern England and northern France — formed from the same coccolithophore deposits — give a geological context to the colour that can be seen from the coast on a clear day.

Clean, educational, and slightly temporary. Chalk is associated with learning — the chalkboard (now whiteboard) was the universal teaching surface for two centuries. Its marks are intentionally erasable — chalk white carries the quality of provisional thought, of ideas that can be corrected. Unlike the permanence of other whites, chalk white accepts revision.

Traditional gesso (chalk + rabbit skin glue) is the ground on which virtually all European panel painting was created — from Byzantine icons through Renaissance masterpieces. The chalk cliffs of Dover became a symbol of England — visible from France, they mark the English boundary both literally and symbolically. Banksy's installation at the White Cliffs of Dover (various works) plays on this iconic white surface as a political canvas.