An Introduction to COLOR THEORY

Color is one of the most expressive elements because its quality affects our emotions directly and immediately. - In representational art, color serves to identify objects and to create the effect of illusionistic space Orange Bowl and Yellow Apples 1980, Oil on canvas Janet Fish

Red, Yellow & Blue

Roy LICHTENSTEIN ( ) Untitled 1974 Silkscreen 82/ cm x 90 cm Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Primary color scheme

When you mix a primary color with a primary color next to it on the color wheel you get a secondary color. Red+Yellow=Orange Yellow+Blue=Green Blue+Red=Violet

Tertiary/ Intermediate Colors are made by mixing the primary & secondary colors next to each other on the color wheel.

Tints are lightened colors. Always begin with white and add a bit of color to the white until the desired tint is obtained. This is an example of a value scale for the tints of blue. Tints

Shades are darkened colors. Always begin with the color and add just a bit of black at a time to get the desired shade of a color. This is an example of a value scale for the shades of blue. Shades

Warm and cool color schemes Warm colors Cool colors

Atmospheric conditioning Neutralized colors The Wolf River, Kansas Albert Bierstadt c.1859 Oil on canvas 48 1/8 x 38 1/8 inches (122.5 x 97.1 cm) The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA Warm color scheme

Color evokes mood Monochromatic color scheme- one color and it’s tints and shades. Cool color scheme Pablo Picasso, The Tragedy, 1903, oil on wood, x.690 m (41 7/16 x 27 3/16 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington,

Analogous Colors Analogous Colors – colors that have ‘neighboring’ hues, contain one common color from the color wheel.

Andy Warhol Elvis I and II 1964 silkscreen on acrylic, on aluminum x cm Complementary Color scheme Complementary colors: colors opposite each other on the color wheel Red/GreenOrange/BlueYellow/Violet

Split Complementary A split complementary color scheme is made up of three colors. One color and the two neighboring colors to it’s complement.

Monochromatic A monochromatic color scheme is when you only use one color or hue and all the different tints and shades of that color.

Neutralized color - color intensity is neutralized by adding its complement or a neutral color, white, black or grey. The importance of dulling (neutralizing) color

Warm or cool color scheme? Paul Cezanne Landscape, 1900 Oil on canvas h62.2 cm, w 51.5 cm Analogous or complementary color schemes?

Pattern and Repetition Pattern is a repeated design Repetition is the repeating of an occurrence, or form

Henri Fantin-Latour French, Still Life, 1866 oil on canvas, 62 x 74.8 cm (24 3/8 x 29 1/2 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington Color as you see it

Expressive color Subjective colors are when the colors do not represent the actual local color. Marie Laurencin, 1925 Mother and child Oil on canvas

Poplars on the Banks of the River Epte, Sunset Claude Monet, 1891 The Athenaeum Actual or expressive color?

Light intensity - a color appears lighter when the color around it is darker Michelangelo Merisi called Caravaggio Madonna dei Palafrenieri (1605) oil on canvas cm. 2,92x2,11 Borghese Gallery

Georges Seurat French, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 Oil on canvas x 308 cm Optical color mixtures are when the artist depends on the eye to mix the colors.

Local color? Chuck Close Lyle, 2002 Chuck Close (American, born 1940) 147-color silk screen 65 1/2 x 53 7/8 in. Edition of 80 Optical color mixture Complementary color scheme?

Henri Matisse: Portrait of Madame Matisse. The Green Line, ,50 x 32,5 cm Oil on canvas What are the color relationships in Matisse’s painting of Madame Matisse?