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

The palette of life

Doraemon Sitting Up - Every Day is a Struggle Nobita

Energy of Sunrise...

Prendre son envol...

Soul

Genie - La vérité n'est pas l'exactitude (plan de Paris)

Fireball

Mowgli & Baloo (plan du métro de Paris)

Mowgli & Bagheera (plan du métro de Paris)

Félix (plan du métro de Paris)

Roi lion (plan du métro de Paris)

Astérix et Obélix (plan du métro de Paris)

Schtroumpfs (plan du métro de Paris)

Picsou (plan du métro de Paris)

Idéfix (plan du métro de Paris)

Picsou (plan du métro de Paris)

Kis kis BB

Aloha et vive les fleurs (1)

Fluo alu

Golconde IV

Explosive rose

Force et douceur

Snoopy pensif

Le chat rose

Used to be

Sérigraphie fluorescente - Chanoir x el Pez x el Xupet negre

Chas Neon 3D Effect

CC

My Kid Just Ruined My Haring III (Jackson Pollock version)

Love heart army

Snoopy vit son rêve, la Porsche sur la Côte d'Azur

Acupuncture Flowers

Boom star

Mais où est Colombo ?

Tools of trade

Attrapes-moi si tu m'aimes

WILD KONG 80 TAG mat

Le bonheur

Peace Out Astronaut

Barcode

Goldorak Go

Be Porsche yeah

Equilibre love 01.01.25

The Signal Beyond

Pop Artstrong

BB Icon

Tropik

Mickey III

Marilyn Pop CodeBarre

Jellyfish eyes-white

Untitled 904

Caramelized

Two lovers in a Porsche 911, in front of the Carton hotel in Cannes

Trump Is Declaring War On Judicial System (Superman)

Style Mario 01.04.25

Style Keith 01.04.25

Rebel forever

Colors 02.01.25

Variations for pop violins

Parking 2000

Mon poto

Giant

Le chant des oiseaux... (Origami 2022)

Street Dollar

Bearbrick Fun

Les vaisseaux de Véga