An Introduction to COLOR THEORY

by Lawrence Montgomery George Washington High School

All graphics by Lawrence Montgomery©

Color is one of the most expressive elements because its quality affects our emotions directly and immediately.- In representational art, color serves to identify objects and to create the effect of illusionistic space

Orange Bowl and Yellow Apples1980, Oil on canvas

Janet Fish

Red, Yellow & Blue

Roy LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)Untitled1974Silkscreen 82/100113 cm x 90 cmTehran Museum of Contemporary Art

Primary color scheme

When you mix a primary color with a primary color next to it on the color wheel you get a secondary color.

Red+Yellow=Orange

Yellow+Blue=Green

Blue+Red=Violet

To achieve Tertiary Colors you mix the primary & secondary colors next to each other on the color wheel.

Warm and cool color schemes

Warm colors

Cool colors

Henri Fantin-LatourFrench, 1836 - 1904Still Life, 1866oil on canvas, 62 x 74.8 cm (24 3/8 x 29 1/2 in.)National Gallery of Art, Washington

Local color (objective color)

Subjective color

Subjective colors are when the colors do not represent the actual local color.

MarlynAndy WarholSilk screen print

Poplars on the Banks of the River Epte, SunsetClaude Monet, 1891The Athenaeum

Local or subjective?

Andy WarholElvis I and II 1964silkscreen on acrylic, on aluminum208.3 x 208.3 cm

Complementary Color scheme

Complementary colors: colors opposite each

other on the color wheelRed/Green Orange/Blue Yellow/Violet

Conditioned color & atmospheric conditioning-

colors appear more intense in the foreground

and have a lesser value in background

Conditioned color & Neutralized Color

Neutralized color - color intensity is neutralized by adding

its complement or a neutral color, white, black or grey.

Conditioned color & Neutralized Color

Local color: the actual color of an objectTonal color: the color variations that result from the effects of light and shadow.

Reflected color -any object you look at is influenced by the color of the environment.

These colors are reflections of surrounding objects.

Local Color

Reflected Color

Tonal Color

Atmospheric conditioning

Neutralizedcolors

The Wolf River, KansasAlbert Bierstadtc.1859Oil on canvas48 1/8 x 38 1/8 inches (122.5 x 97.1 cm)The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA

Warm color scheme

Color evokes mood

Cool color scheme

Pablo Picasso,

The Tragedy, 1903, oil on wood, 1.053 x .690 m (41 7/16 x 27 3/16 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington,

Light intensity

- a color appears lighter when the color around it is darker

Michelangelo Merisi called CaravaggioMadonna dei Palafrenieri (1605)oil on canvascm. 2,92x2,11Borghese Gallery

Liubov PopovaSitzender weiblicher Akt, 1914, Oil on canvas106 x 87 cmMuseum LudwigAnalogous

Colors

Analogous Colors – colors that have ‘neighboring’ hues,

contain one common color from the color wheel.

Warm or cool color scheme?

Paul Cezanne 1839-1906Landscape, 1900Oil on canvas h62.2 cm , w 51.5 cm

Analogous or complementary color schemes?

Georges Seurat French, 1859-1891A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884Oil on canvas207.5 x 308 cm

Optical color mixtures are when the artist depends on the eye to mix the colors.

Local color?

Chuck CloseLyle, 2002Chuck Close (American, born 1940)147-color silk screen65 1/2 x 53 7/8 in. Edition of 80

Optical colormixture

Complementary color scheme?