Art and /craft primary 4 - pg 1

Theory of colours
COLOUR THEORY is a body of practical guidance to colour mixing and the visual
effects of a specific colour combination. The first colour wheel was designed by Sir
Isaac Newton in 1666. The colour wheel consists of three:
1. Primary colours is colour red, yellow, blue.

2. Secondary colours is colours created when primary colours are mixed. Example:
● Red + blue makes violet
● Blue + yellow makes green
● Yellow + red makes orange

3. Tertiary colours are colours made from primary and secondary colours, such as
blue-green or red-violet. Example:
● Yellow + orange 🡪 Yellow-orange also called (amber)
● Orange + red 🡪 Red-orange also called (vermilion)
● Red + purple 🡪 Red-purple also called (magenta)
● Violet + blue 🡪 Blue-violet
● Blue + Green 🡪 Blue-green also called (teal)
● Green + yellow 🡪 Yellow-green also called (lime)
● Yellow + Orange 🡪 Yellow-orange
4. Colour wheels can be separated into two;

1. Cool colour
● Red
● Oranges 🡪 orange, red-orange
● Yellows 🡪Yellow-orange
2. Warm Colours
● Blue
● Greens 🡪 yellow-green, green, blue-green
● Purples 🡪 red-violet, violet, blue-violet
 Art and /craft primary 4 - pg 2

1. MEANING OF COLOR
Colour meanings stem from psychological effects, biological conditioning and cultural
differences that have been adopted by society, such as pink as a colour for girls and blue for
boys in Western cultures (which hasn’t always been the case).
Cultural differences
1. Red represents good luck in China but in South Africa it’s the colour of
mourning / sad.
2. Americans associate green with money as that’s the colour of dollar bills
but that isn’t the case globally.
3. Black is the colour of mourning in Western countries, while in some East
Asian countries it’s white.
4. In the US green is the colour of envy, while in Germany it’s yellow. You’ll
need to be sensitive to these differences depending on where you are
operating.
Colour combinations—If you’re using more than one colour you need to be aware of
how colour combinations affect the overall meaning. You’ll need to give some thought to
their combined meanings and what effect you want to achieve with your
combination. Colour theory will help you understand the relationships between
colours. For example, the Complementary Colour below.
1. Orange and blue
2. Red and green
3. Purple and yellow
Brand Meaning of Colours based on:
1. Psychological relation
2. Expresses the brand
3. Increase in sales
COLOURS MEANING EXAMPLE Brand
RED Energy, passion, danger, Mc. Donald
ambition, confidence, Netflix,
exciting, active, pioneering
coca cola, LEGO,
leader
Vespa, Red Bull
ORANGE Creativity. Youth, and Fanta. (luxury
enthusiasm, warmth, brand) Hermes,
motivation, extrovert, Master Card
freedom, optimistic
Yellow Happiness, hope, and Mc Donald, Best
spontaneity, positive, Buy’s, Why Bar,
youthful, playful, cheerful, White Quinoa

Green Nature, growth, harmony. Starbuck, Spotify,

Wealth, health stability, Bamboo,
calming, sustainability,
prosperity,
 Art and /craft primary 4 - pg 3

Blue Calm, trust, intelligence, IT Companies

security, positivity, (Intel, IBM,
cleanliness, strength, Microsoft, Dell)
responsibility, cool,
relaxing,
Finance (Paypal,
Visa, American
Express)

Natural Choice of
professional
network such as
LinkedIn,

Another brand with

Blue is Traveloka,
Twitter, and so
on.
Purple Luxury, mystery, royal, Yahoo, Queen
wise, creative, Victoria, Asprey
sophisticated, and Brand
spirituality
Pink Femininity, playfulness, Barbie, Dunkin’
romance, energetic Donuts,
sensitivity, tenderness, Cosmopolitan, LOL,
sweet, cute and charming etc.

Brown Wholesomeness, warmth, Copper Kettle

Bakery, Amanda
Bakery,

Black Elegance, power, James Bond 007,

sophistication, Chanel, Dior,

White Simplicity and minimalism, Apple, Holy Grail,

holy

Grey Professionalism, formality, Nitendo 2008 and

conventionality 2016, Toyota,
Honda, Mitsubisi,

Multicolour Fun, diversity, and Rainbow

optimism, playful,
informal, creativity
 Art and /craft primary 4 - pg 4

Mondrian Art
Mondrian is an abstract Painting by Piet Mondrian, a Dutch artist. Piet Mondrian was born
in the Netherlands 1872 and died in New York 1944 (age 71 years old). He is popular as 20th
century Abstract Art.

Piet Mondrian (A Dutch Artists) Mondrian dress

Example of Mondrian Art:

Pablo Picasso
Born : Spain October 25, 1881
Died : April 8, 1973
Popular name before 1901 is Pablo Ruiz or Pablo Ruiz Picasso
Pablo Picasso created more than 20.000 paintings, drawing, sculpture, ceramics and other
items such as costumes and theatre sets. He is universally renowned as one of the most
influential and celebrated artists of the twentieth century. Some of Pablo Picasso’s Art work
was known as:
1. The rose period (1904-1906)

2. Cubism (1909 – 1919)

3. Here are the masterpieces of Picasso’s Artwork

 Art and /craft primary 4 - pg 5

Title: Guernica Tittle: The Old Guitarist

Modern Art and Contemporary Art
1. Modern Art is the artwork that was produced during a specific period in the past
(almost 200 years old). The artwork was created from the 1880s up to the 1970s.
Modern Art is more self-expressive and primarily made on the canvases. Moreover,
Modern Art focuses on subjective representation on the chosen themes.
Example:

Theme: Spitz, 1927 Theme: The Persistence of Memory, 1931

By. Wassily Kandinsky By. Salvador Dely
2. Contemporary Art is an art work in the present time that was created by the living
working artists or those who have only very recently died or retired. Contemporary
Art pays attention to society for its social impact, political and cultural aspects.
Contemporary art is not only produced on the canvas but also can be created as
video-art, tech-enable artwork, objects design, and graphical art.
Example:

Tittle: Kaput, 2013 Title: Husbandry. 2022 in Brussels

By. Maurizio Cattelan By. Kasper Bosman