Color and Emotion

1. Color can evoke a complex reaction of emotions to the viewer. Colors often have cultural and symbolical associations. Sometimes colors can have contradictory cultural meanings. Certain colors can evoke certain moods, for example "cool"colors often have a calming and subdued mood associated with them, while warm colors are linked with moods of excitement or passion. Still, dark colors are associated with negative emotions and ideas.

2. The theoretical aspect of color that intrigues me the most is optical color mixing. I think it is fascinating that just by putting colors next to each other, the brain can mix the colors that are not separate on the canvas, as Chuck Close and George Seurat have done in their painting. It takes a very skilled painter and color theorist to make these kinds of paintings.

3. In the "Color video", something that made a large impact on me was how bold, contrasting colors can evoke strong emotions and that Vincent van Gogh was one of the first artists to utilize this practice. He was one of the first artist to abstract color and by putting jarring, contrasting colors next to each other to give the feeling of anxiety and madness that he felt in seedy cafes.

5. In the "Feeling video", the idea that had the largest impact on me in regards to color and it's effects on emotion was the way in which Fransisco de Goya used color, or didn't use color to show to make his critique on society. He used dark and murky colors to show the despair and depravity of society and human nature. He really captured a heightened sense of emotion through his dark color choices.