Colored artworks

The work of color is central in any artistic work. It is even one of the first tools of the artist. It is difficult to imagine a work that would exist without the working of color - even if it is the absence of color that the artist chooses to present.

Through the ages and artistic movements, the use and meaning attributed to color evolves, but the essence of color remains the same. Every artist must master the properties of color in order to control his composition. In the restoration of paintings, color even becomes a science, because it is necessary to know the different molecules to find the colors and mixtures originally used by the artist.

In the history of art, the importance of color fluctuates according to periods and geographical areas. During the Italian Renaissance, for example, there was a debate (called Paragone) between the authority of color versus drawing: according to the schools, it is the color, and not the line, that creates the emotion and visual power of a work of art. The colors thus take on an immense importance, and assume certain meanings: white symbolizes purity for example, and blue (systematically used to clothe the Virgin Mary) is associated with divinity. These symbols are not thought of randomly: the purple for example, is used since the Byzantine era to signify the highest rank of royalty. Unlike ochre, the purple pigment came from a specific shell, and was extremely difficult - and therefore rare, and expensive - to obtain.

More generally, colors can be divided into three categories: warm, cool, and neutral. As their name implies, these classes of colors give off an atmosphere that the painter can use to influence the emotion of his work. Baroque art, for example, manipulates the contrasts between warm and cold colors to capture the power of bodies. The play of light is exalted by the effects of color. For a long time, the traditional Western school of painting required painters to reproduce the colors of the environment around them. It was the Impressionists, in the 19th century, who explored other ways of seeing - and therefore of transcribing on canvas - their chromatic environment. By avoiding complex mixtures and painting spontaneously, in the open air, the Impressionists reinvented the use of color to reproduce reality.

It was not until abstract and subjective painting that art devoted itself to color as a subject. Mark Rothko, precursor of the Colorfield Painting movement and of abstract expressionism, sees in his paintings a living organism whose color is human and whose format is transcendent. Piet Mondrian, on the other hand, sought in his paintings to approach the very essence of nature through the purity of primary colors, to achieve abstraction. The founder of the Russian avant-garde movement of Suprematism, Kasimir Malevich, will disturb the senses of everyone with his work "White square on white background", in which the color is painted only for itself. Contemporary art, photography, collage, or pop art also use in their respective ways the resources of color, exploring indefinitely all its pluralities. As Picasso said, "When I have no blue, I use red."

Artsper writes art in color: discover below a great selection of works that honor color and its properties. What better way to brighten up an interior?

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Colored artworks

Clint Eastwood

Tom Cruise

Prayer One _ page Banksy's Girl with balloon 3

Skull with horns

The warrior (a tribute to Basquiat)

Emotional anatomy of a nightmare

love

Alfons maillot III

Alfons maillot

En rêvant de Picasso (a tribute to Picasso)

wild and free

Pink masked Marilyn

Blue masked Marilyn

The Red

Lion

L'Éternel Recommencement. Pharrell Williams Portrait intervened by the artists

The Radiants, Pharrell Williams Portrait. Photograph intervened by the artists.

Temporaire, Pharrell WIlliams. Portrait intervened by the artists.

Skull, Pharrell Williams Portrait. Photography intervened by the artists.

Le Fauteuil de l'oubli, Pharrell Williams Portrait. Photograph intervened by the artists.

Lotophage, Pharrell Williams Portrait. Photograph intervened by the artists.

Le swing de Tiger

Pez

Fontaine de Jouvence

Funky side

Golden Basquiat Boxing

Porsche 911

She

Power Flower - série collage

Lacoste colors

Le plongeon

Paris Fashion Week

Personal Jesus

Love colors

M51 Van Gogh

Amy Winehouse pochoir

Amy Winehouse

Playmobil

Girls love Banksy

Toy Love

Rolex colors

Madame Matisse

Ketchup Heinz

Bob Marley

Blue Love

El Beso

Basquiat et moi

Space fun

Recordings Portfolio

Song of the Seven Birds

Donald Duck

Dreamer

Fresque Cinématographique

Mohawks

Bancs publics

Marilyn Audrey Beatles

Love is the Answer

Spring 2025

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