Color Evokes Emotion

Color and its effects on emotions are very powerful and unpredictable. It is difficult to control because certain colors evoke different emotions for each individual. They may have a favorite color or color that they hate which effects they view on the artwork.

Some vocabulary of color:

   Hue is the name of the color. Ex. Red, purple, yellow

   Value is the lightness or darkness of a hue. Ex. Adding white to a hue creates this.

   Intensity is the purity of the hue. Ex. Adding gray to a hue.

Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) make us feel excited or anger. They represent the sunlight and fire. Cool colors (blue, purple, green) are calming and serene. They represent grass, water, or the sky.

In the video, Color, June Redform had a difficult time creating the emotions she wanted to be represented in her painting. At one point, she felt her painting showed anger, which she didn’t want to do. She wanted to create the energetic feel of Venice, Italy. The way the buildings seem to grow out the water and how the water is alive with the reflection of the buildings.

Mark Rothko only used color in his paintings. He used it to evoke strong emotions. He didn’t want shapes or forms to get in the way. Rothko only wanted the reaction from colors.

The theoretical aspect of color I enjoyed was Jacques-Louis David’s thoughts about we are yearning to be better. I believe every person strives to do better. In the painting “The Death of Marat”, David gives Marat attributes of a saint and mankind is a representation of God. I believe David tried to give ordinary people the encouragement to be a better person.

In the Color video, I  enjoyed learning about the frescoes. It was the first time color was used on a large scale. Creating the pigments was tedious, grinding the element used to create certain colors. The use of lapis lazuli, which created aquamarine hue, was extremely expensive. Artists would only use this color on the most important elements, the elements that would evoke emotion the most.

In the Feelings video, Giotto's paintings made the biggest impact on me. The one above is "The Mourning of Christ". He heightened the feelings of the religious stories. His use of rounded faces and shadows on the faces created the people to be more human like ourselves. He believed God is inside us so that moves us up on the ladder of importance. If you truly look at the faces you do see the human emotion in them and feel what they are feeling even if we weren't present at the time.