Hi there and welcome back! I wanted to focus writing on something I feel like is often overlooked when it comes to talking about art history: Color. I had this idea when I saw researchers had found a new color, which I think is super cool by the way, and I started to think about just how important color is. Color technique is of course talked about in painting and drawing classes but I feel like it’s history in art is often not widely discussed. So I decided to use today’s post to do just that!

Color in art dates back all the way to cave paintings. Originally pigments were created from natural materials and are known as Earth pigments. These colors were created to bring to life stories put on cave walls. It makes one think about the importance of color then. Why use color back then? The cave drawings could have been left colorless, but instead they found a way to mix natural materials with animal fat to create color. Why go through the trouble when survival was arguably troublesome enough? My opinion is because color is everywhere, everything, and everyone. It is all around us all the time and seen differently from person to person. That to me is the basic principle of color.  In these ancient times color communicated and educated on what certain animals were and what feelings were there. 

As time went on people searched for more ways to create more colors in the art world. Scientists and artists found all kinds of ways to create new colors. Blues were most popular then and came about earlier on. People started using ground minerals and stones to create vibrant pigments. They would be mixed with things like egg and oil to create durable paints that kept the desired color. More and more people started to create new pigments rapidly. When I think of this time I try to imagine myself there, painting or drawing something beautiful but I can’t quite capture what I want. I look at the scene in front of me and see blue colors with hints of green. I look to my pastels or paints and I can’t find the color I need. So I finish my piece anyway but I know it’s not the same. That is why I think the need for these colors was so important. The more you look all around you the more you can see how unique all colors are, and being able to capture that could give a whole new look, feel, or meaning to a piece of art.

I think knowing these things about how color was long ago is very important for artists. It’s not just about the technique of mixing, placing, or blending color but knowing how it is in life around you, and knowing what the feeling of color was like for artists before us. That knowledge makes for a better artist and also makes you view the world around you a little differently.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and learning about color! Hopefully this made you look away for a moment and take in the colors around you. Maybe you even saw something a little differently than before, or thought about if someone made the exact color you’re looking at. Either way, enjoy the colors of life surrounding you!

~Marissa