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

Nina Hagen

Rock climber

Microcosmes 14

Sakura is blooming

Breathe

Drooping Leaves

Transporteur de fleurs à Venise

Landscape

Disco Ball

Spring in Notting Hill

Harmonie 12

A Botanical 68

Charme

Time to slow down

"Bienveillance" abstrait acrylique poudre de marbre oxydation châssis lin 81x60cm 2017

Sans titre

Rêve de fécondité

Les promenades

Taste of Caraminera

Fluidité 1123

Vitale

S102204

Fontaine Pradier

Intenciones del Silencio IX

Sans-titre

El concepto

N97

Europe mythologie Femme

A Moment Of Rest

Contact color - Minéral

TerritorioDesconocido 1

L'automne

Amigo 7

DH zeta land

You Can Depend on Me

L'Attente du Jour Prochain

Workday Conversations

Landscape

Wish you Flowers nr 9

Levitation N7

Chiffonnade embrassée

Venice at Night

Un artiste est nez

Immensity without limits

Organic Flow

Horizontal and Vertical Movements #1. From The Rectangular Composition Series

Emotion 20200530

Nasty

I'm all smiles

L'Adieu (G Appolinaire)

L'apéro vert

Chocolate Factory & Crazy Sunset

Armure Organique

Sans titre 93

White Veil Harmony Series #11

Song and Dance

Lyrical

Sans titre I

Skyline. XVI

Jade

Basquiat

Dream

Piece of Cake

Lovelovelove

To Fall Into

Explosion solaire