COLOR

PRIMARY

• Red
• Yellow
• Blue

• utilizes only the primary colors to create the feeling of energy inspired by Jazz and New York city.
• Mondrian chose to use only primary colors because he was trying to get to the essential and universal in painting.
• In other words, the primary are the essential - because you can't get any more basic than that.
• Universal - because everyone - everywhere can understand basic colors and shapes.
• Here is a game I found on the web called Mondrimat. You can create your own version of a Mondrian by clicking on the squares. Try it, it's fun.

SECONDARY

• Red and Yellow make Orange.
• Yellow and Blue make Green.
• Blue and Red make Purple.

COLOR HARMONIES

ANALOGOUS COLORS



• Example -

  green, blue-green, blue.

  
  Look at my illustration
• These are colors adjacent (or next to)
  one another on the color wheel



• Josef Albers (German/American, 1888,1976)
  did extensive studies on the way
  colors interact with each other.
  He did many paintings in the "Homage to the Square"
  series where he carefully painted colors
  in gradually larger squares in order to show
  how one color changes how we see
  the color next to it.
• 
  Look at the analagous colors -
  in this painting by Josef Albers
  



• Look at different parts of this painting
  by Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947).
  Be sure to click on the image to blow it up.
• There are areas that
  are blue, blue-green, green
• Othere areas have pinkish
  yellows, yellows, yellow- greens
• These are analagous
  and also colors based on nature
  - colors from the landscape
• This painting is currently at
  the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  - it's magnificent
  - the web does not do it justice.

COMPLIMENTARY

• colors that are opposite on the color wheel
  • when mixed together as paint, they make gray
  • when complementaries are placed next to each other, each seems more so (when red is next to green it seems redder and the green seems greener)

Sports teams

use complementary colors in their uniforms because it makes the strongest contrast and pops out at the viewer.

The Minnesota Vikings' colors are purple and yellow which are exact opposites on the color wheel.

The Impressionists

deployed complementary colors particularly in shadows

In the painting that named the movement, "Impression Sunrise" by Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), you can see how the orange sun seems to really glow on the blue sky

• Why did Franz Marc paint this cow yellow?
• Look at this portrait of a young girl by Henri Matisse.
• How do the colors effect you?
• What do you think it means?

COLOR TEMPERATURE

• Colors can feel warm or cool.
• Blues are generally cool.
• Yellows are generally warm.
• In my illustration, the colors get warmer as you move from left to right.

Look at these paintings by Mark Rothko (American, 1903-1970)

• Warm colors
• Cool Colors
• Warm and Cool combined-What does the blue do to the yellow?

COLOR AS SPACE

• Colors that are more saturated (are purer - have not been diluted with white or black) seem closer to you
• Colors that have been softened by white seem farther away
• Did you ever notice that when you look up at a blue sky, the part of the sky that is directly overhead is bluer than the sky that is at the horizon
• This is because it is closer to you
• In my illustration
  • - the dark green seems like a grassy plain closest to you
  • - then the colors fade as the ground becomes more distant
  • - the horizon is actually white
  • - then the sky begins as pale blue-greens
  • - and becomes darker, more saturated blues directly over the grassy plain

• Hans Hofmann (American, 1880-1966) developed an entire theory about the push and pull of color in space
• warmer colors push cooler colors back in space
• cooler colors pull warmer colors forward in space
• In this little study painted on a cigar box top by Georges Seurat, notice how the blues pop forward off the warm orange of the old cardboard surface - breaking Hofmann's rule of push/pull. The warmer colors seem to sit comfortably down on the orange surface.
• This demonstrates that every rule in art can be broken.

• refers to the "value" - lightness or darkness of a color
  (think of a black and white photograph)
• Compositions using tones of a similar value are less dramatic than those using a greater range of values
• This is a grayscale -from light to dark

• Here are two paintings by Robert Motherwell (American,1915-1991).
  • Notice how the black on white image is very strong and dynamic.
  • Compared to this print using a blue-gray paint on cream colored paper. It's a much quieter, more contemplative image.
• This famous painting, "Night Hawks"by Edward Hopper (American, 1882-1967) is a good example of dramatic light and dark contrast.
• The late Renaissance painter known as Carravagio was a master of this technique. (Be sure to click on the image to enlarge it.)
• This painting by Arshile Gorky (Armenian, 1904-1948) even has the feel of an old sepia photograph. The tones are close in value.
• This painting by Marie Bracquemond (French, 1840-1916) has a very soft, soothing effect due to the fact that all the colors are within a small range of values.