VISUAL ELEMENT:

COLOR
“It is only after years of preparation that the young
artist should touch color-not color used
descriptively, that is, but as means of personal
expression”

-HENRY MATISSE
Color
 Consider what our world would look like
if everything was black, white and
shades of gray?

 The effects of "Color" on humans has

been studied many times. Artists have
known that "Color" has a powerful effect
on their works and on the impressions of
the viewers.
COLOR WHEEL
 Primary colors
 Secondary colors
 Tertiary colors
 Complimentary colors

Hue:
purest form of a color
VISUAL ELEMENTS
COLOR
 the element of art derived from reflected
light
 has three qualities: hue, value, and
intensity
HUE
 name of a color according to the
categories of the color wheel
VALUE
 relative lightness or darkness of a hue
 changes through additions of white and
black
Blue in a range of values.

Shade Tint

Range of values from black to white

INTENSITY
 relative purity of a color
 refers to the brightness (high) or
dullness (low) of a hue
 also called chroma or saturation
 adding a hue’s complementary color
lowers the hue’s intensity (subtraction
process)
Red in a range of intensities.

High Low Gray

TONALITY
 refers to the overall effect of a work of
art when one color and variations of it
seem to dominate the whole
The Dream(1910). Henri Rousseau.
Mr. and Mrs Andrews (1750) THOMAS
GAINSBOROUGH
COLOR HARMONIES
1. Monochromatic
 composed of variations of the same hue
Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904). Pablo Picasso.
The Beach at Selsey Bill (c. 1865). James Whistler.
COLOR HARMONIES
2. Complementary
 involves colors directly opposite one
another on the color wheel
 complementary colors react more vividly
with each other thereby creating more
intense hues
http://michaelnaples.blogspot.com/2008/11/complementary-pears.html
Pool in a Brook, Pond Brook, New Hampshire (1953). Eliot Porter.
http://rantheseer.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/romantical-love-painting-photo.jpg
COLOR HARMONIES
3. Analogous
 combines colors adjacent to each other
on the color wheel
Symphony in Grey and Green (c. 1866-72). James Whistler.
http://adamrose.name/main/Portfolio_files/Art120PaintingHQ.jpg
http://www.niu.edu/art/foundations/site/images/Scanned%20Pics/Picture%20095.jpg
COLOR HARMONIES
4. Triadic
 composed of any three colors
equidistant from each other on the color
wheel
Rooms by the Sea (1951). Edward Hopper
The Seed of Areois (1892). Paul Gauguin.
Atrium of Flowers (1980) Incident at the Tintoretto
MIRIAM SCHAPIRO Café (1982) SANDRO CHIA
The Virgin with the Canon
van der Paele (1436) JAN
VAN EYCK
RESTRICTED PALETTE VS OPEN
PALETTE

The Jewish Bride(1666). Rembrandt

Wheel of Fortune (Vanitas). 1977-78. Audrey Flack
Marilyn (Vanitas) (1977)
AUDREY FLACK
WARM COLORS VS COOL
COLORS
 Colors are relatively warm or cold only
due to associations.
The Unilever Series: The Weather The Wreck of the Hope (1823-1825)
Project (2003) OLAFUR ELIASSON CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH
COLOR AS SYMBOL
OPTICAL EFFECTS OF
COLOR
 Simultaneous contrast
Afterimage
ADVANCING VS. RECEDING
COLORS
 Warmer, high-intensity, and dark-value
hues appear larger and advancing than
cooler, low-intensity, and high-value
hues, which appear smaller and
receding.
OPTICAL COLOR
MIXTURE
 When small patches of different colors
are close together, the eye may blend
them to produce a new color.

 Pointillism – dots (points) of pure color

are placed next to each other
A Sunday on La Grand Jatte (1884-86). Paul Seurat.
Detail from A Sunday on La Grand Jatte (1884-86). Paul Seurat.
Lucas (1986-87). Chuck Close.
Lucas (1986-87). Chuck Close. Detail.
Emotional Effects of
Color
Nocturne in Blue and Gold (c. 1872-75). James Whistler.
The Scream (1893). Edvard Munch.
 
Shanon Fitzpatrick “Coral Study”

Gustav Klimt
“Emilie Floge”

Paul Klee “Ad Parnassem”

 THE ELEMENTS OF ART:
COLOR
Complementary ,Cool, Warm Color Schemes

Yellow and blue accentuate each other Red and green accentuate each
in van Gogh’s Café Terrace on the Place other in van Gogh’s Night Café
du Forum, Arles, 1888 in Arles, which was painted the
same month as the café at lef