Color as Emotion

Color is an element of art that has seen its purpose change over the centuries. It is no longer simply used to mirror reality. Now, it also is used to convey emotions. While how we interpret color is highly subjective, there are some universal guidelines. "Cool" colors, for instance, tend to have a soothing effect. They are calming. Cool colors tend to be shades of blues. Reds, on the other hand, are "warm" colors, which are more energetic and dramatic. The intensity of a color, too, affects our emotional response to it. The purer the color, the higher the intensity, and the more vibrant it will appear. These colors are lively. Adding value to a work, the relative lightness or darkness, will make the work appear more dramatic, and could also make it feel more mysterious and eerie. Monochromatic colors, which are composed of variations of the same color, will appear much more soothing than complimentary colors, which are opposite on the color wheel. Complimentary colors will increase the intensity of each other, and can sometimes almost hurt to look at them.

The aspect of color that interests me the most would have to be the idea of optical color mixture. While I'm not a huge fan of Seurat in general, I am fascinated by the science behind his style of painting, which is pointalism. Seurat does not use brushstrokes, but instead paints thousands of tiny dots onto his canvases. He does not mix his colors on his palette, but instead paints different colors right next to each other, and lets the viewer's mind do the work. The color of the dot radiates away from itself, and alters the dots around it. When standing back, they mix in the mind. I like how it gives Seurat's work a shimmering quality. It gives his paintings a lightness that might not exist if painted with brush strokes. It is almost reminiscent of the sand mandalas we were learning about: it feels like one breath could blow the entire painting away. It gives his A Sunday on La Grande Jatte some much needed frivolity, what with its blocks of color actually being formed by several different colors, sometimes on the opposite end of the color wheel.

In the Color video, the thing that made the biggest impact on me would be how "wrong" June Redfern's painting initially seemed. I like her use of vibrant colors in her other works, but seeing as she was trying to capture the colors of Venice, it just seemed off, and she didn't like it herself. It was too much of a highly saturated red next to a highly saturated blue: it radiated in a way that didn't fit the soothing Venice scene. When I imagine Venice, I imagine more or a terra cotta color: a light, brownish red, that feels old, not the fire-red she was using. The blue felt more like something in a stormy ocean than the still water that that surrounded the buildings of Venice. In the end, however, she did tone down her painting. The end piece, with its softer colors was much more tranquil. The red now has a lot more yellow and orange in it, which makes the work much more analagous than complimentary. The water is almost clear. These colors do not fight for the eye's attention like complimentary colors do.  Redfern refers to Venice as outdoors, but feeling like indoors. I think she means that there should be a feeling of comfort. In the end, she does indeed convey that feeling. 

In the Feelings: Emotions and Art video, I was more drawn to Francisco Goya. Personally, it seemed to me he used color more effectively  than Jacques-Louis David, though in fairness it's probably easier to convey the dark, shameful aspects of human nature in color than the more noble ones. Especially in Saturn Devouring his Children, Goya paints chillingly and hauntingly. The background is a black void. Out of the shadows emerges a monstrous thing--an act of calculated insanity. Saturn is red-tinged, and the painting is monochromatic. The area of the most vibrant red is the blood leaking from the decapitated child, which is now reduced to a Thing. The deprivation of the scene is emphasized by the contrasting whiteness of Saturn's wide eyes. Value is at work here, as in many Goya paintings. The shading of Saturn's body reminds one of something vile that just emerged from a dark corner. When I first saw this painting, I couldn't get it out of my head. I can't imagine having it painted on the wall of my house, where the white eyes would glow at me in the night. I almost wish David had painted it, as he was a first-hand witness to the horrors that went on during the French Revolution. As Saturn eats his own children, France killed its own citizens. It was Goya who was privy to the inner, subconscious horrors of humanity, however. Through color he captured what most wish to be kept hidden.