The Art of Color

CEBU, Philippines — Why does color matter? Color prints of photographs, for example, are often priced much higher than black-and-white or monochromatic. While color does not play as much role in the pricing of paintings, still it is one of the most exciting components of a visual art work.

Some people find black-and-white, otherwise generally regarded as ‘the absence of color’, to be more dramatic. Others welcome color because it makes the ‘picture’ come alive. Each group has its own reason for its preference.

Indeed, color can be used to express or engender emotion. In both figurative and abstract painting, color can be used for its decorative beauty, to create mood and to express or arouse an emotion. When it comes to emotion, though, it would be the more jubilant or aggressive emotions – thrill, anger, gaiety, exuberance etc. – that color evokes in the viewer.

Expressions such as “feeling blue” and “seeing red” have come about because color has an emotional effect independent of the subject matter of the art work. 

Artists can choose and use color naturalistically. By convention, grass is green and water is blue – but on closer look they may be made up of many different colors and artists do not have to imitate the colors they see in the physical world. Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is the man credited with revolutionizing attitudes towards color in art. He once said: “When I put down green it doesn’t mean grass, and when I put down blue it doesn’t mean sky.”

Before Matisse there was Monet who began to question descriptive colors. Monet was fascinated by the ever-changing shimmer of light on water and used color theory to recreate the mobile and shifting effects of what he saw. He was influenced by a French chemist called Michel-Eugène Chevreul, who altered understanding and use of color in the 19th century. When working as director of dyeing at a tapestry workshop near Paris, Chevreul realized that colors appear brighter or duller depending on the colors they are placed next to.

Monet uses Chevreul’s discoveries. While colors that are close together on the color wheel harmonize with each other when placed side by side in a painting, complementaries are energized and made visually demanding and vibrant through strategic pairing.

Many times, yes, artists tend to stylize their use of color – they tend to veer away a bit from the natural to the emotional.

The Impressionists and many modern artists exploited the visual impact of contrasting colors. Colors from opposite sides of the wheel are paired, to fully define their being different. The difference itself is intended to heighten the emotional tone of the art work.

Another way an artist uses color is to create an illusion of space on a canvas. In real life distant objects appear progressively hazier, paler and bluer. Artists take from this reality by using faint blues and greys to give depth to landscapes.

Color has probably equal – albeit different – art value as black-and-white. Only that, come on, color is more eye-catching. While black-and-white may make a viewer stop and think, color eggs him to party! (Reference: “How Artists Use Color”; http://headforart.com)