Combining

Colors

Introduction

The optical, electromagnetic, and chemical processes initiated in the eye and brain are frequently paralleled by processes in the psychological realm. Such reverberations of the experience of color may be propagated to the inmost centers, thereby affecting principal areas of mental and emotional experience. By careful analysis, I shall try to elucidate this topic, so important to the color artist.

I recall the following anecdote: A businessman was entertaining a party of ladies and gentlemen at dinner. The arriving guests were greeted by delicious smells issuing from the kitchen, and all were eagerly anticipating the meal. As the happy company assembled about the table, laden with good things, the host flooded the apartment with red light. The meal looked rare and appetizing enough, but the spinach turned black, and the potatoes were bright red.

“Colors exert profound influences upon us, whether we are aware of them or not”

Before the guests had recovered from their astonishment, the red light changed to blue, the roast assumed an aspect of putrefaction, and the potatoes looked moldy. All the diners lost their appetite at once, but when the yellow light was turned on, transforming the claret into castor oil and the company into living cadavers, some of the more delicate ladies hastily rose and left the room. No one could think of eating, though all present knew it was only a change in the color of the lighting. The host laughingly turned the white lights on again, and soon the good spirits of the gathering were restored. Who can doubt that colors exert profound influences upon us, whether we are aware of them or not?

Balancing Colors

The example of the four seasons shows that color sensation and experience have objective correlatives, even though each individual sees, feels, and evaluates color in a very personal way. I have often maintained that the judgment "pleasing-displeasing" can be no valid criterion of true and correct coloration. A serviceable yardstick is obtained only if we base each judgment on the relation and relative position of each color with respect to the adjacent color and the totality of colors. Stated in terms of the four seasons, this means that for each season, we are to find those colors, those points on and in the color sphere, that distinctly belong to the expression of that season in their relation to the whole universe of colors.

“Unless we apply reason
to the choice of color combinations, we shall find none but private solutions”

The majestic cycle of respiration performed by nature in these four phases can hence be clearly and objectively represented in color. But unless we apply reason to the choice of color combinations, keeping the total universe of color before us, we shall find none but private solutions and miss those of general truth and validity.

Color Combinations

I shall now try to relate the hues yellow, red, blue, orange, violet, and green as represented and defined in the 12-hue color circle and to describe their mental and emotional expressive value:

Yellow

Yellow is the most light-giving of all hues. It loses this trait the moment we shade it with gray, black, or violet. Yellow is, as it were, a denser, material white. The further this yellowed light is drawn into the denseness of matter, of opacity, the more it is assimilated to yellow-orange, orange, and red-orange. Yellow is radiantly cheerful when contrasted with dark tones. With yellow on pink, the radiance of the yellow is subdued. With yellow on orange, the yellow looks like a purer, lighter orange.

The two colors together are like strong morning sun on ripening wheat fields. Yellow on green gives a radiant effect, outshining the green. Since green is a mixture of yellow and blue, the yellow is among friends. Yellow on violet has an extreme strength of character, hard and inexorable. Yellow on medium blue is radiant but alien and repellent in effect. Sentimental blue will not readily tolerate the bright wit of yellow. Yellow on red is a loud joyful noise, like trumpets on Easter morn. Its splendor sends forth a mighty knowledge and affirmation. Yellow on white is dim and without radiance. The white forces it into a subservient position. Yellow shows its brightest and most aggressive luminosity on black. It is vigorous and sharp, uncompromising, and abstract. The various effects of yellow well illustrate the difficulty of defining the expressive properties of colors in general terms without direct intuition.

Red

The red of the 12-hue color circle is neither yellowish nor bluish; its irresistible radiance is not easily eclipsed, and yet it is extraordinarily flexible, bordering on diverse characters. It is very sensitive where it shifts into yellowish or into bluish. Both yellowish-red and bluish-red unfold great capacity for modulation.

Red-orange is dense and opaque, glowing as if filled with inner warmth. The warmth of red is intensified to fiery strength in red-orange. It is symbolically comparable to vitalized earth. Red-orange light promotes vegetable growth and organic function. Proper contrasting turns red-orange into an expression of feverish, belligerent passion. Passionate physical love glows forth in red-orange; blue-red purple connotes spiritual love. On orange, red-orange seems smoldering, dark, and lifeless, as if parched. If the orange is deepened to dark brown, the fire of the red flares with a dry heat. It is only in contrast with black that fire red develops its most unconquerable, demonic passion. On green, red-orange is an impudent, rash intruder, loud and common. On green-blue, red-orange is like a blazing fire. On a cold red, it drops back to a subdued glow, driving the red to active resistance. The different effects of red-orange in our examples are only a suggestion of its expressive potentialities.

Blue

Pure blue is a color containing no trace of yellow or red. Just as red is always active, blue is always passive from the point of view of material space. Blue on yellow has a very dark effect, devoid of radiance, casting a cold light when lightened to the same brilliance as yellow. On black, blue gleams in bright, pure strength, shining like a distant light in the face of ignorance. Blue on lilac appears withdrawn and impotent, but darkening lilac revives the significance of blue. On dark brown, blue is excited into a strong vibrant tremor, resurrecting the dead brown by its power.

Blue on red-orange retains its dark figure, becoming real. On quiet green, blue shifts towards red, escaping the paralyzing sameness of green and returning to active life. The retiring nature of blue, its meekness, and profound faith are frequently encountered in paintings of the Annunciation, where the Virgin, hearkening inward, wears blue.

Green

Green is the intermediate between yellow and blue, and its expressive character changes based on the proportion of yellow and blue. As a secondary color, green is produced by mixing yellow and blue. It symbolizes the vegetal kingdom and the mysterious chlorophyll involved in photosynthesis, expressing fruitfulness, contentment, tranquility, and hope. When luminous green is dulled by gray, a sense of sad decay may result.

Yellow-green, within the range of yellow, represents the young, vernal force of nature and the hope and joy for the fruits of summer. Activated by orange, yellow-green may assume a coarse, vulgar cast. If green inclines towards blue, its spiritual components are augmented. Manganese blue, representing the richest hue of blue-green, has a cold, vigorous aggressiveness in antithesis to green and blue, with a strange luminosity asserting its presence.The range of modulation of green is very broad, and many different expressive values can be obtained by variations in contrast.

Orange

Orange, the mixture of yellow and red, is at the focus of maximum radiant activity. It has solar luminosity in the material sphere, attaining the maximum of warm, active energy in reddish orange.

Festive orange readily becomes proud external ostentation. When whitened, it quickly loses character; diluted with black, it declines into dull, taciturn, and withered brown. By lightening brown, beige tones are obtained, creating a warm, beneficent atmosphere in quiet, intimate interiors.

Violet

The difficulty of fixing a precise violet, neither reddish nor bluish, is extreme. Violet, as the antipode of yellow or consciousness, is the color of the unconscious—mysterious, impressive, and sometimes oppressive. It can be distinctly terrifying, particularly towards the purple end. Violet is the hue of piety and, when darkened and dulled, of dark superstition. Dark violet can evoke lurking catastrophe, while lightened violet, illuminated by light and understanding, enchants with delicate and lovely tints.

Chaos, death, and exaltation are expressed in violet, solitude and dedication in blue-violet, and divine love and spiritual dominion in red-violet. These are some of the expressive values of the violet band. Many plants have light violet shoots with yellow centers.

Conclusion

Considering the mentally and emotionally expressive values of colors, it is realized that the effects of colors and our subjective individuality in receptiveness to color experience are extremely variable. Any color may be varied in hue, brilliance, saturation, extension, and effects due to simultaneous contrast. The process of artistic creation involves selecting the proper basic group of colors from the totality available, requiring subconscious perception, intuitive thought, and positive knowledge to function together.