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?

Search by Image

Save your search and find it in your favorites

11/38 1 9 10 11 12 13 20 30 38

Categories

Subcategories

Colored artworks

Les certitudes

All you need is love

Johnny Jane

Tag 2309

Le Roi du Monde

Mickey fuck

popeye spinash

Dream Forever

El Barto

Sunset City

Graffiti Extraction N°5

Graffiti Extraction N°2

Multi Mesk N°31

Black Multi Mesk N°4

Heart - Spin Painting

Campbell's

Tribu

Street art

Mr. Horns

Madalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon

Vador essentiel

Machine à remonter le temps

Multi Mesk / Airbrush Session N°1

Krilin

Matrix

Game over

The color monkey

Esprit rebelle

La vie est belle

Aloha et vive les fleurs

Vive les fleurs et cool

Abstract Part!

Punchy

Now

Life Is Beautiful ! - EA

Time’s up

Kiss in dreamhouse

The continuation of life

Organic interaction

Bowie Space oddity

Until The Death

To Do Recto

Time Off Buddah

Racing Formula Twenty Three

Plus De Règles

Los Jardines Del Prado

Azur

All Night Long

Simpler days II

What did you expect ?

Eiffel 2

La bombasse rouge

Wall-E

Graff de rue

Pink City

Vache Rose

Mister Happy

Vive les fleurs bleues

Tribute to Mirò

Super fashion lady

Vogue love is life

Sweet woman

Think outside the box

Sonic Vs Mario Split - EA

First Love ! - EA

Banksy hope gold heart (a tribute to Banksy)