Color harmony in the composition. Color Harmony - Harmony of color

For the artist, the harmony of color is a special pleasure. It can give rise to a whole gamut of feelings, emotions and images in his imagination. That is why many artists collect photographs that are beautiful in color.

There are many sites on the network that allow you to create similar color palettes for photos. Here are some of them.

The owner of this beautiful site, Jessica, collects harmonious color combinations illustrated with a photograph of these colors.

And these shades are so subtle and “delicious”, so different that the imagination is immediately spurred on by the emotions born of color. I want to create my own paintings using this color hint.

The Design Seeds website has a convenient search for color shades and plots.

Winter, spring, minerals, succulents, flora and fauna..

This is what the search page looks like, everything is intuitive.

2.DeGraeve

A good Generator that allows you to create a color palette for any photo from the Internet. For this just insert the url address of the photo and click the “Color-Palette-ify!”

The generator makes up two color scales - the main natural colors of the photo and their more saturated counterparts.

The disadvantage of this generator is that not every user knows how to find the url address ...

More useful stuff:

On this site you can upload your photo and also get its main colors in two scales:

The downside here is that the original photo is not visible.

Click on the button “Select Image” and select a photo on your computer. Download and get this scheme, where you can choose the number of shades. Their maximum number is 8.

Already more convenient, right? And the colors are more natural and harmonious.

Select a file on your computer and click “Create palette”.

We get this scheme with fifteen shades:

Nice toy, isn't it?

If you still do not understand color well, then it is quite possible to use it to select a shade for a picture. In a form separated from the landscape, it is more understandable.

But are these colors harmonious?

How to choose harmonious color combinations?

These questions will be answered by other color generators.

They select colors according to color schemes.

Use your mouse to select a color on the color wheel. On the right you will see a diagram of monochrome harmony.

Above the wheel, there are buttons for selecting other color schemes.

To get the result in the form of a scale, click on the color tables button at the bottom right.

7.SessionsCollege

Another similar generator but with fewer colors in the results .

Choose a color on the color wheel.

We choose the number of colors for the combination and the scheme.

These generators are made for website and blog creators.

They allow you to quickly find shades that are harmonious in color and use them by copying their digital name.

For an artist, such sites can become a “toy” for developing a sense of color harmonies and for inspiration.

If you want more fundamental knowledge in understanding the harmony of color for painting:

• how to choose harmonious
• how to mix the right ones, how to express the desired image with color

then all this can be learned in the course

This is how we study color harmonies in practice there:

Indeed, in painting everything is somewhat more complicated and multifaceted than in design ...

I would be grateful for your comments on the article. And if you took my color science course, share your impressions and successes!

Monotone harmony (in florist literature it is also called monochrome) is based on a combination of colors of the same color tone, with differences in lightness and saturation.

The overall color tone gives this color composition a calm, balanced character. This type of harmony is very widely used in painting, arts and crafts, fashion design. But in the interior it is undesirable to use it, since the monopoly of one color in space, and even in large quantities, causes discomfort in the human body, up to the manifestation of psychophysical disorders.

On our color wheel, this is a combination of colors from 5 levels of color tone.

The number of steps, of course, can be large. The achromatic equidistant color range (from white to black) is also harmonious.

Solid harmony in hair color design:

Harmony of related colors (nuances).

The harmony of related colors is based on the presence of an admixture of the same main color in them.

The main colors are:red, blue, yellow and green. This is a relatively restrained color scheme. For example, on our color wheel, these are red and red-orange, yellow and yellow-red, but not red and yellow. That is, related colors are colors taken from the intervals from a given color to the next main one.

In the color wheel, or rather, in the system of color wheels, there are 4 groups of related colors: yellow-red, blue-red, yellow-green, blue-green.

Consider how you can harmonize three related colors - pure red, red-orange and orange. The combination of these colors, taken from circle III, does not give a subtle color combination. To achieve harmony in a given color combination (and this is the balance of shades), it is necessary to balance the colors by changing their saturation or lightness. Therefore, it is better to take red from circle III, red-orange from II, orange from circle I (or II). You can also add to the two colors not a highlighted, but a darkened color, that is, take them from circles 4 and 5.

Thus, equally saturated color tones of the same lightness cannot form subtle color combinations. But if you add a darkened or brightened color to one or two colors out of three, then the colors begin to blend harmoniously, focusing on the third, most saturated color.

polar harmony.

Polar harmony is built on the opposition of two main colors, which can be both complementary and contrasting.

For example, red and green, blue and yellow, yellow and purple. In polar harmony, not only two colors can be combined, but more. For example, pink, light green and dark green. The main thing is that these colors are varieties of the two main polar colors.

Many researchers consider this harmony the most comfortable for the eyes. A special combination of contrasting colors, since the phenomenon of consistent contrast is the law of our body's desire for balance and self-defense.

Physiologist E. Goering proved that the eye and the brain need a medium gray, otherwise, in its absence, they lose their calm. A mixture of complementary or contrasting colors gives a neutral gray color. A mixture of pure spectral colors produces white. On our color wheels, all diametrically located colors give a gray color in the mixture, that is, they form harmony. All color combinations that do not add up to gray, for example, red and blue, yellow and red, are expressive.

The combination of polar colors is characterized by the greatest activity, dynamism and tension. If you combine polar colors of the same lightness, then such a combination will ripple in your eyes.

You can bring them into a harmonious combination in several ways:

1. One of the colors should be smaller in area.
2. Add white or black to one of the colors;
3. Take all colors bleached or darkened;
4. Add a contrast to one of the colors. For example, if in pure contrast. For example, if you add a little green to pure red, it will turn gray-red and harmonize well with green;

Let's consider the 1st point in more detail. Since proportionality is the main condition for balance (remember that Proportion is the daughter of Harmony!), Itten, based on Goethe's conclusions, proposed in his book The Art of Color the following proportional approximate ratios of spots of contrasting colors:
Yellow: purple = ¼: ¾
Orange: Blue = 1/3: 2/3
Red: Green = ½: ½

The quantitative ratios presented are valid only when colors are used in their maximum saturation. As can be seen from the proportions, warm colors with a high lightness should be smaller in area than cold colors, since the strength of their impact is much more active than cold ones. Compliance with this rule will help create a polar color harmony that is comfortable for our eyes.

Harmony built on the principle of constructive construction (colors are located at the ends of geometric shapes inscribed in the color wheel: triangles, rectangles, pentagons, etc.)

Summarizing all that has been said, we can formulate the basic principles for constructing color harmonies:

The principle of the sameness of colors (monotone harmonies);
The principle of subordination of colors (related harmonies);
The principle of complementarity (polar harmonies of complementary colors);
The principle of opposition (polar harmonies of contrasting colors);
The principle of constructive construction (colors are located at the ends of geometric shapes inscribed in a circle: triangles, pentagons, etc.).

Let's take a closer look at the last principle. Many artists, designers adhere to the "good old" rule - do not combine more than 2-3 colors in a composition. Then very harmonious combinations are obtained. The strongest harmonic consonance is created on the basis of equilateral triangles. If three colors are taken at the ends inscribed in the color circle of isosceles triangles, then they will also constitute a harmonious unity.

And if you still need to combine more than three colors, then in order not to get a cacophony of colors, you can follow several methods:

* Combine colors according to the principle of constructive construction;
* Add one color to all colors;

Make one color dominant in the composition. This color will prevail in its total area in the color composition, and in its distribution on the plane it will become “comprehensive”, that is, it will, as it were, surround all colors from all sides;

A color composition is created from equally small color spots. This method was used by French impressionist artists of the 19th century - pointillists (J. Seurat and P. Signac), who created their harmonious picturesque paintings with small strokes and dots.

Harmony of complementary colors on the color wheel

Split Complimentary Scheme

Tertiary color harmony scheme

When working with color, the goal of the artist is to create color harmony. In general, harmony can be described as a combination of parts that gives a pleasant feeling (music, poetry, etc.). Color harmony- this is the consistency of colors among themselves as a result of the found proportionality of their areas and shapes, balance and consonance, based on finding a unique shade of each color. This harmony should evoke certain positive feelings and sensations in a person.

According to the nature of psychophysiological perception, it is customary to subdivide harmonic combinations into five color groups: single-tone harmonic color combinations, harmonic combinations of related colors, harmonic combinations of contrasting colors, harmonic combinations of related-contrasting colors and harmonic combinations "Triad".

1. Monochrome harmonies based on the same color. They are created by combining the selected color with its light and dark shades, obtained by adding white and black. As a result, it is possible to achieve, on the one hand, a strong tonal contrast, and on the other, subtle color relationships. The overall color tone gives monochromatic combinations a calm, balanced character.

monochrome harmony

Depending on the tasks set, color harmony can be organized in different light ranges. For example, the use of the full light range expresses peace, stability. The selection of colors separated from each other by different intervals contributes to the manifestation of activity, intensity of color. To express dynamic contrast, choose two colors with a small tonal interval between them and a third one with a larger interval. The uniform ratio of the areas occupied in the combined colors confirms the statics, the uneven one - the dynamics.

Monochrome harmony in nature

2. Harmonious combinations of related colors are achieved by using three colors that are side by side on the color wheel. Due to the proximity of the location, these colors are easily combined. This harmony can have a lot of depth, it has a rich originality and an elegant look. The harmony of related colors is based on the similarity of color tones (or on their slight contrast in color tone) and evokes a feeling of balance and tranquility.

Harmony related colors

The introduction of a small amount of white or black into combinations of related colors leads to harmony, enhances the emotional expressiveness of the composition. Harmonies of related colors have an active light contrast, which contributes to the expressiveness of tonal combinations. For example, equally saturated three color tones of the same lightness do not form subtle color combinations. As soon as black or white is added to two of the three matching colors, color combinations acquire consistency.

Harmony of related colors in nature

3. Harmonious combinations of contrasting colors are created by using two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. This technique is usually used to create accents, so combinations of these pairs of colors have the highest color contrast, which causes an active sound, tension and dynamism of the composition. This allows one color to complement another in such a way that one of them attracts attention and the other is the background.

Harmony of contrasting colors

When starting to create contrasting harmonic combinations, the initial color is first chosen, then the contrasting color corresponding to it is determined. By creating a harmony of contrasting colors, you can add achromatic colors to each of the combined colors.

Harmony of contrasting colors. Square

"Square"- a kind of harmonic combinations of contrasting colors from four colors equidistant from each other.

Harmony of contrasting colors. Tetrad

"Tetrad"- a kind of harmonic combinations of contrasting colors of four colors, in which there are two pairs of colors located opposite each other.

Harmony of contrasting colors in nature

4. Harmonious combinations of related-contrasting colors - the most common type of color harmonies, forming an isosceles triangle in the color wheel. Here harmony is achieved through the use of any color and colors adjacent to its complementary. Such colors are softer than a combination of just two complementary colors.

Harmony of related-contrasting colors

A characteristic feature of the compilation of harmonic combinations of related-contrasting colors is the presence in the combinations of the same amount of the main and contrasting colors.

Harmony of related-contrasting colors in nature

5. Harmonic combinations "Triad" - a combination of three colors equidistant from each other and forming an equilateral triangle in the color wheel. This scheme is popular with artists because it offers strong visual contrast while maintaining balance and saturation. Such a composition looks quite lively even when using pale and desaturated colors.

Triad harmonics show very distinct and strong color combinations, but they are the most difficult to create correctly. To achieve harmony in the triad, one color is taken as the main one, and the other two are used for accents.

For the artist, the harmony of color is a special pleasure. It can give rise to a whole gamut of feelings, emotions and images in his imagination. That is why many artists collect photographs that are beautiful in color.

There are many sites on the network that allow you to create similar color palettes for photos. Here are some of them.

The owner of this beautiful site, Jessica, collects harmonious color combinations illustrated with a photograph of these colors.

And these shades are so subtle and “delicious”, so different that the imagination is immediately spurred on by the emotions born of color. I want to create my own paintings using this color hint.

The Design Seeds website has a convenient search for color shades and plots.

Winter, spring, minerals, succulents, flora and fauna..

This is what the search page looks like, everything is intuitive.

2.DeGraeve

A good Generator that allows you to create a color palette for any photo from the Internet. For this just insert the url address of the photo and click the “Color-Palette-ify!”

The generator makes up two color scales - the main natural colors of the photo and their more saturated counterparts.

The disadvantage of this generator is that not every user knows how to find the url address ...

More useful stuff:

On this site you can upload your photo and also get its main colors in two scales:

The downside here is that the original photo is not visible.

Click on the button “Select Image” and select a photo on your computer. Download and get this scheme, where you can choose the number of shades. Their maximum number is 8.

Already more convenient, right? And the colors are more natural and harmonious.

Select a file on your computer and click “Create palette”.

We get this scheme with fifteen shades:

Nice toy, isn't it?

If you still do not understand color well, then it is quite possible to use it to select a shade for a picture. In a form separated from the landscape, it is more understandable.

But are these colors harmonious?

How to choose harmonious color combinations?

These questions will be answered by other color generators.

They select colors according to color schemes.

Use your mouse to select a color on the color wheel. On the right you will see a diagram of monochrome harmony.

Above the wheel, there are buttons for selecting other color schemes.

To get the result in the form of a scale, click on the color tables button at the bottom right.

7.SessionsCollege

Another similar generator but with fewer colors in the results .

Choose a color on the color wheel.

We choose the number of colors for the combination and the scheme.

These generators are made for website and blog creators.

They allow you to quickly find shades that are harmonious in color and use them by copying their digital name.

For an artist, such sites can become a “toy” for developing a sense of color harmonies and for inspiration.

If you want more fundamental knowledge in understanding the harmony of color for painting:

• how to choose harmonious
• how to mix the right ones, how to express the desired image with color

then all this can be learned in the course

This is how we study color harmonies in practice there:

Indeed, in painting everything is somewhat more complicated and multifaceted than in design ...

I would be grateful for your comments on the article. And if you took my color science course, share your impressions and successes!

As you know, all the colors that we see can be divided into achromatic (white, black, shades of gray - there are no color waves, there is only lighting.) and chromatic (colors of the spectrum, color waves that our eye perceives). Color waves smoothly transition into each other, creating color continuum- continuous smooth color change.

These two directions do not exist separately, chromatic colors (the whole continuum) are mixed with achromatic ones, which gives the whole gamut of shades that our eyes see. The whole gamut is most successfully represented in Munsell's three-dimensional "Tree".

Impurities of different achromatic colors form different tone directions.

If you mix a pure color with white, you get light colors with black dark.

If we talk about color as color waves, then gray is a mixture of color with its opposite (i.e., for example, orange and blue), two waves "extinguish" each other and color saturation is lost. Therefore, soft colors (mixed with gray pigment, with the opposite wave, in fact) look "complex, nuanced." So, blending with gray gives " soft colors".

If we talk about artistic color harmony, then not all chromatic colors of the continuum look good with each other, they are combined with a certain rhythm. Colors with a golden undertone are considered warm , colors with blue - cold . There are also neutral colors in terms of temperature characteristics, which are in a continuum between two shades.

Altogether, we have 6 color characteristics, 3 pairs of dichotomies .
Dichotomy is a scale. It's not so much a choice of either-or as being on that scale. For example, both colors can be warm, but one is a pronounced warm and the other is closer to neutrals.

Commonly recognized color characteristics are:
Lightness: light (with white admixture) or dark (with black admixture).
Brightness (Saturation): bright (almost pure, rich pigment) or soft (little pigment, proximity to gray, gray impurity)
Hue (color's place in the continuum). This includes just the division of colors into warm (with a golden undertone) or cold (with blue undertone)

Any color is described by all three characteristics, however, they are expressed with different intensity.. This provides a variety of shades. The characteristic that is most pronounced has the strongest effect on the perception of color, the remaining characteristics make adjustments. If you combine all the color characteristics, you get 48 options - 48 color transitions . I have already told you how they pass into each other. This is an absolutely unique author's development, so I think there will be no questions about what system I work on - I work on MY "Color Harmony" system, built entirely on color theory, due to which it is more accurate than most other color theories, if not everyone.

All the colors of the continuum can be divided into these cells with blurry borders. However, in practical use 48 palettes is a lot, too many colors will be repeated. Therefore, it is best to reduce the number of palettes to 12. why to 12? I'll explain now. As I said, the most pronounced characteristic affects the perception of color and its compatibility with others. So, we have 6 directions - bright colors, soft, light, dark, warm, cold. In bright colors, first of all, you can see the purity of color, in soft colors - a gray impurity or "complexity" of color, in dark colors - depth, darkness, in light colors - whiteness, airiness, in warm ones - gold, warmth, in cold ones - ice, blue.

Compare cold soft coloring and soft cold. In the first case, blue, cold catches the eye. in the second - complexity, a gray impurity.

The temperature characteristic is also important for us - since it is precisely when the temperature subtone does not match that the skin optically reacts with unpleasant effects (yellowing, pallor, redness, colored shadows) - this is optics. The waves overlap each other and give an unnatural color.

Therefore, those areas where the temperature characteristic is not the first should be divided into two more subgroups.

It turns out bright warm, bright cold, soft warm, soft cold, light warm, light cold, dark warm, dark cold.

In the case of colors, where the temperature characteristic is leading, brightness is important - pure colors or complex ones. Therefore, they are divided in this way: warm bright and warm soft, cold bright and cold soft.

It turns out 12 colors, and Simplified color globe will look like this:

Some color schemes use the old "seasonal" color names, which do not affect anything other than terminology.

Each person falls into one color out of 12, but with certain amendments and individual transitions. All colors of a person's appearance have the same set of characteristics. , it doesn’t happen that the skin is cold, and the eyes are warm, everything is painted from the same palette, otherwise the colors of your appearance would not be harmonious. It's the law of nature =)

All colors within the main color are suitable for a person, and in addition to them, some colors of neighboring colors are suitable, which are simply added to the individual palette. These supplements vary from person to person.

And I present myself 12 colors that you, in principle, are already familiar with.

I will call them according to their characteristics, although let the seasonal names remain for the terminology correlation =)

And a little bonus - the palettes now have Pantone coordinates (Large resolution pictures can be downloaded from Google Drive https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2SlBFbzV-EYOHZYSFlRa19YY1E/edit?usp=sharing , reposting pictures in other places is welcome , but only if you link to us =)), in addition, I added some palettes. Pantone colors are requested very often. Although in domestic use it is easier for customers to use the classic 12 tone such as these.

And .. I present 12 colors. Each of them causes some associations, I will also give them, but color is not limited to these associations - they will only let you feel the "spirit" of flowers, that make up the palette. But in any particular case, colors can carry different associations (!) depending on their use. But I hope I will be able to show all the colors from their best side =) After the name of each palette there will be links to my pinterest, where I will gradually collect colors and associations, this will help you imagine the colors "in action".

Bright cold colors. ("Bright winter") "Impressive" palette - "impressive" .

Leading characteristic - brightness, additional - neutral - cold. It can be both relatively light and relatively dark. Often contrasting in lightness. The colors are pure, either without obvious impurities, or with a bluish impurity.

The overall impression of the palette is brightness, catchiness, although there is also some restraint due to the blue undertone.

The palette is reminiscent of a winter landscape on a bright day with color contrasts of pure colors, whites, blacks, reds and cool greens, or tropical islands with vibrant birds, flowers, turquoise water, blue skies and emerald greens.

Bright warm color. ("Bright Spring"). Creative Palette - "Creative" palette.

www.pinterest.com/shahrazade/ch-bright-a nd-warm/

The leading characteristic is brightness. Additional - neutral - warm. It can be both relatively light and relatively dark in color. The colors are pure, either without obvious impurities, or with a bright golden impurity.

The palette is associated with the world of South Asia, with the bright clothes of the inhabitants of this region, splashes of color in their manner of combining colors, with the cheerful colors of tropical nature.

Soft cold color ("Soft summer") - Mysterious Palette - Mysterious palette

The leading characteristic is softness, additional - neutral - cold. It can be both relatively light and relatively dark. The colors are softened, with a gray impurity or grayish blue.

The palette is associated with twilight, fog, forest before rain, creates the impression of mystery, understatement, riddle. The colors are very complex and nuanced.

Soft warm color ("Soft Autumn") - "Sensual Palette" - "Sensual" palette

The leading characteristic is softness, additional - neutral - warm. It can be both relatively light and rather dark in color. The colors are softened, with a grayish admixture or with a softened ocher.

The palette is associated with earthly sensual femininity, with the time before sunset, when the sun paints everything in soft golden tones, with the gifts of the Mediterranean nature - the greenery and gold of the fields, with grapes, cinnamon, olives, figs.

Dark cold color ("Dark Winter") "Luxorious Palette" - "Chic" palette

Leading characteristic - dark, additional - neutral - cold. It can be both quite bright and slightly softened. The colors are deep with a black admixture or with a dark blue.

It is associated with the luxury of the royal courts, with velvet of deep burgundy, purple, lilac, blue hues, with rubies, emeralds, jade and malachite, as well as with a dark night and the depth of a dark blue sky.

Dark warm color ("Dark Autumn") - "Exotic Palette" - "Exotic" Palette

Leading characteristic - dark, additional - neutral - warm. It can be both quite soft and quite bright. The colors are deep, with a black or dark ocher touch.

Associated with the colors of the Middle East - with the rich furnishings of Moroccan interiors, the gold of natural lights, the warmth of spices, the sensual complexity of colors, the rich colors of southern nature.

Light cold color ("Bright Summer") - "Innocent Palette" ("Innocent" palette)

Leading characteristic - light, additional - neutral - cold. It can be both quite bright and quite soft. The colors are light, pastel, with a white or light blue admixture.

The palette is associated with tenderness, freshness, childhood, as well as seaside holidays, with light turquoise water, light greenery, yellowish white sand, delicate flowers and carelessness.

Light warm color ("Bright Spring") - "Tender Palette" - "Delicate" palette.

Leading characteristic - light, additional - neutral - warm. It can be both quite bright and quite soft. The colors are light, cheerful, with a white or light golden admixture.

The palette is associated with youth, joy, flowering fruit trees, all colors are pierced with delicate gold and remind of the rebirth of nature.

Warm bright color ("Warm Spring") - "Lively Palette" - "Cheerful" palette

The leading characteristic is warm, the additional one is bright. It can be both quite light and quite dark. Colors with a clear bright golden undertone.

The palette is associated with a meadow in the midst of spring with a multicolor of bright colors - lilac, yellow, red, purple, with the golden color of the sun and the blue of the spring sky.

Warm soft color ("Warm autumn") - "Spicy palette" - "Spice Palette"
http://www.pinterest.com/shahrazade/ch-warm-and-soft/

The leading characteristic is warm, additional - soft. It can be both quite light and quite dark. Colors with a clear ocher undertone.

The palette is associated with spices - pepper, turmeric, cloves, saffron, mustard and with autumn nature, deep blue water and warm foliage colors.

Cold bright color ("Cold Winter") - "Noble Palette", "Noble" palette

The leading characteristic is cold, the additional characteristic is bright. It can be both quite dark and quite light. Colors with bright blue undertones.

The palette is associated with the world of the Snow Queen - with icy luxury, detachment and some drama, this is a palette of precious stones.

Cold soft color - ("cold summer") - "Elegant Palette" - "Elegant" palette.

The leading characteristic is cold, the additional characteristic is soft, it can be both quite light and quite dark. Colors with a soft blue undertone.

The palette is associated with elegance, with the restrained colors of the northern summer with the blue of cool water, bluish-green summer foliage and hints of berries.

All information in this article is the intellectual property of the author, so the repost is only with an indication of the source. =)

Path to Your Charm Project 2014, Color Harmony 2014

Color harmony

The phenomenon of color is not at all simple. As already noted, on the one hand, color refers to the physical properties of reality, it can be measured with instruments, and its properties are mathematically modeled as it happens in colorimetry, and as such, color has an objective meaning. On the other hand, color is a subjective psycho-physiological sensation that is embodied in certain emotional states that are different for different people; moreover, this ambiguity of his is the main interest for the fine arts.

When analyzing the technology of a color image, it is necessary to keep in mind these two aspects of it all the time: natural science and psycho-aesthetic. If we consider the phenomenon of color in historical terms, then these two approaches reveal themselves quite clearly. At the same time, attempts to understand what color is and what its significance is in fine arts and in general in culture are always expressed in the desire to somehow systematize color, create a single system, and on its basis penetrate into the secret of harmonic combinations. It is quite possible that color harmony is not an objective reality that only needs to be discovered, as many believed after Newton, but just a property of our aesthetic consciousness, as Goethe believed; Harmony does not exist outside of our perception, just as the concept of color does not exist outside of perception. Therefore, in different historical eras, different harmonic combinations prevailed among different peoples, or rather, completely different color combinations were considered harmonious or inharmonious.

Let us trace, in the most general terms, the dynamics of the change in the coloristic ideal on the material of the fine arts. But first, a few words about the symbolism of color.

The problem of color symbolism is connected both with the psychological impact of color, and with its systematics and classification. At the origins of culture, color was equivalent to a word, as it served as a symbol of various things and concepts, and the simplest or primary colors turned out to be the most stable color symbols. It has been noted that the role of color symbolism in society is proportional to the proportion of mythologism in its thinking. As the role of rationalism increases, the role of symbolism also decreases. In our time, color symbolism retains its position in heraldry, functional coloring of production facilities, in transport signaling and in surviving everyday ritual actions.

In more complex cases, as, for example, in art, the handling of color allows the same freedom (or rather, ambiguity in interpretation) as the handling of a word in modern literature. Today, some theoretical premises in color solutions based on the symbolism of color seem in many ways too speculative and unconvincing. In itself, the color scheme can be very interesting and innovative (as, for example, in the film "Reds" by cameraman V. Storaro), but theoretical justifications based on subjective symbolism look like completely unnecessary props; in all this there is even some share of mystification. So, Storaro argued that the gray-brown tones in his film symbolize the earthly aspirations of the characters, like the roots and trunk of a tree, and the green and generally saturated shades, corresponding to the fresh greenery of the crown and flowers, symbolize their inner, spiritual world.

In the future, analyzing the issues of color, we will talk in detail about the specifics of film color, about the metaphorical nature of color in cinema, but here I would like to note that discussions about the symbolism of color in cinema are mostly artificial and far-fetched.

In the era of Greco-Roman antiquity, color became the subject of attention and reflection of philosophers, but the views of florist philosophers can be called artistic rather than scientific, because aesthetic and even ethical prerequisites were at the heart of their worldview. Ancient philosophers considered it necessary to classify colors - to single out the main and derivatives, but they approached this mainly from mythological positions. In their opinion, the main colors should correspond to the main elements (air, fire, earth and water - white, red, black and yellow). Nevertheless, Aristotle was already aware of the phenomenon of color induction, simultaneous and successive color contrast, and many other phenomena, which later formed the basis of physiological optics. But the most important thing is the doctrine of color harmony.

Antique color aesthetics became the same foundation for all European art of the Renaissance, as ancient philosophy for the science of the Enlightenment. Harmony was considered a universal principle of the universe and was applied to a wide variety of phenomena: to the structure of the Cosmos, to the social structure, to architecture, to the relationship of colors and numbers, to music, to the human soul, and so on. In its most general form, harmony meant the principle of a higher, “divine” order, instituted not by man, but by higher forces, but, despite this, such an order should be quite accessible to human understanding, since it is based on reason. This, by the way, is the difference between the Western concept of harmony and the Eastern one, in which there are always elements of mysticism and unknowability.

Here are some provisions of ancient harmony in relation to color:

1. Communication, a combination of individual elements of the system with each other. Harmony is a connecting principle. In color, this is expressed by the unity of color tone, when all colors are brought together as if by a common bloom, each paint is either whitened (in the background), or blackened, or softened by mixing in another paint. Apelles, according to Pliny, after finishing the picture, covered it with something like a grayish varnish in order to bind all the colors into a harmonious unity.

2. The unity of opposites, when there are certain opposite principles, called contrasts. In monochrome, this is the contrast of light and dark, chromatic and colorless (for example, purple with white, red with black), saturated colors with low saturation. Or are these contrasts in color tone - a comparison of red and green, yellow and blue, etc., i.e. connection of additional, complementary colors.

3. Harmonious can only be associated with the measure, and the measure is human sensations and feelings. According to Aristotle, every sensation is a definition of correlations. The brightness and strength of the color should be neither too strong nor too weak. Bright color, sharp contrasts were considered barbarism, worthy of "some Persians" (the original enemies of Hellas). The civilized Greek appreciates beauty more than riches, the subtlety of art pleases him more than the high cost of material.

4. The concept of measure is relative, it means the ratio of the measured quantity to the unit of measurement, therefore it includes such definitions as proportionality, proportions, ratios. Aristotle believed that in “beautiful” colors the proportions in which the primary colors are taken are not accidental: “Those colors in which the most correct proportion is observed, like sound harmonies, seem to be the most pleasant. Such are dark red and violet ... and some others of the same kind, which are few for the reason that there are few musical harmonic consonances.

The whole practice of ancient applied art proceeds from the principle that in color mixedness is more valued than purity.

5. The harmonic system is stable because it is balanced. The Universe is eternal because it is harmoniously arranged, the opposing forces in it cancel each other out mutually, creating a stable balance. If the figures in the picture are dressed in bright cloaks, then these relatively saturated spots occupy no more than one-fifth or one-sixth of the entire picture in area. The rest of the colors are undersaturated. Light to dark is taken in approximately the same ratio. Thanks to this proportional system, an overall balance of the color composition is achieved: strong, but short pulses of bright and pure colors are balanced by longer, but weak fields of dark and mixed colors.

6. A sign of harmony is its clarity, the evidence of the law of its construction, simplicity and consistency both in general and in parts. The classical color composition does not set difficult tasks for the viewer, juxtapositions of close or opposite colors are preferred in it and are almost never used as a color dominant of juxtaposition in the middle interval, since they have neither an obvious connection nor opposition (more on this will be discussed in the example of color circle).

7. Harmony always reflects the sublime. According to Aristotle, "mimesis" is a reflection of reality in the forms of reality itself, art only imitates nature, but does not reproduce the ugly and ugly - this is not part of the task of art.

8. Harmony is conformity and expediency, as well as order. In this principle, in the most general form, the attitude of ancient aesthetics to the world is expressed: the goal of human cultural activity is to transform the formless and ugly world of chaos into a beautiful and orderly cosmos. Any harmonious color composition is so organized and ordered that it is easily comprehended by the human mind and lends itself to logical interpretation.

From this enumeration of the main features of ancient color harmony, it is clear that many of them have not lost their significance to this day.

In the Middle Ages, color served as a kind of communication tool or a sign that distinguishes certain objects. There was, as it were, a color code that was understandable to all members of society. It was used in all visual structures, in all creations of human hands that were visible: in architecture, decoration of temples and palaces, in clothing, painting, sculpture, book graphics, theater. Moreover, in relation to different colors, there was the same hierarchy as in all other areas of life. There were colors "main, divine": white, gold, purple, red and blue, as well as yellow (he depicted gold). Below on the hierarchical ladder were green and black. The same colors as gray, brown and the like, as if they were not noticed at all and they tried not to use them. It was believed that the contemplation of "divine" and "royal" colors elevates the spirit of a person, instilling in him a pious system of thoughts. In France and Italy, the use of blue was even controlled by the state, just as purple was in late antiquity. The symbolic meaning of the white color was enshrined in the Holy Scriptures, the white color meant holiness, faith, etc. The black color, as a symbol of death, meant the mortification of the flesh and was generally a sign of humility and rejection of worldly joys. Hence the black color of the clothes of the clergy and monastics. However, for the higher clergy - the prelates of the Roman Church, the "unrepresentative" black color was replaced by purple, because purple is the closest to black.

During the Renaissance, the works of Leon Batista Alberti (1404-1472) and Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) were more closely associated with the practice of fine art than others and have not lost their relevance to this day. The questions raised in them can be divided into two groups:

1) all kinds of color phenomena in nature and painting, the effect of illumination on color, reflexes, aerial perspective, the interaction of colors (color induction, color contrasts, the color of the human body, some features of the visual perception of color, irradiation, adaptation and edge contrast);

2) questions of color aesthetics in relation to painting, i.e. which combinations of colors should be considered harmonious, and which should not. Today it is not at all superfluous to recall what Alberti wrote several hundred years ago: “It seems obvious to me that colors change under the influence of light, for every color placed in the shade does not seem to be what it is in the light.”

Unfortunately, for many of our contemporaries this does not seem so obvious. “Colors are very much akin to lights in relation to visibility; and how related they are, you see by the fact that in the absence of light, colors are also absent, and when light returns, colors also return.

In essence, the main position is expressed here, which characterizes the entire process of tone and color reproduction when the exposure changes.

In the Renaissance understanding, in comparison with the ancient one, the main characteristics of color (hue, lightness and saturation) already differ, as we now say. Interestingly, white and black are denied the names of colors, but they are recognized as the main colors in painting. “Black and white,” writes Leonardo, “although they are not ranked among the colors, since one is darkness, and the other is light, i.e. one is deprivation, and the other is the offspring of color - yet I do not want to leave them aside on this basis, since they are the main ones in painting, for painting consists of shadows and lights, i.e. from light and dark.

Despite the fact that the theorists of the Renaissance are unanimous that the main means in painting are drawing, composition, perspective and chiaroscuro, and color is given a secondary, as it were, decorative role, they, contradicting themselves, vigilantly note reflexes and colored shadows. Leonardo writes: “The color of the shadow of each object is always involved in the color of the object casting the shadow, and to a greater or lesser extent, the closer or further this object is from this shadow and the more or less luminous it is. The surface of every shaded body participates in the color of its opposing object. "White is more receptive to any color than any other surface of any body, so long as it is not mirrored."

And Alberti writes about reflexes: "Walking in the meadow in the sun seems green from the face."

Leonardo continues: “It often happens that the colors of the shadows on the shadowed bodies do not agree with the colors in the highlights, or that the shadows appear greenish and the highlights pinkish, although the body is the same color. This happens if light comes to an object from the east and illuminates it with the light of its radiance, and another object comes from the west, illuminated by the same light, but it itself is of a different color than the first object. Therefore, he throws his reflected rays back to the east and illuminates with his rays the side of the first object facing him. I have often seen red lights and bluish shadows on a white object.

These observations of Leonardo were used in painting only at the end of the 19th century by the Impressionists, and he himself, contrary to obvious facts, in his artistic practice could not cross the traditions of local painting and warned his contemporaries against this. For artists of the early Renaissance, the color of objects was presented as their inherent property, it always acted unchanged and was only diluted or, accordingly, darkened with white or black paint, so the problem of color harmony for them was solved by combining object or local colors, which, accordingly, based on the composition , were grouped on the plane of the picture.

Everyone knows the masterpieces of the Renaissance, where amazing decorative effects were achieved in this way. These are paintings by Raphael, Michelangelo, Botticelli and other artists associated with the culture of the Accademia Correggio. Later, the Renaissance had a completely different attitude to the aesthetics of color comparisons than Alberti and Leonardo, who considered the contrast of local colors to be the basis of harmony. Later, the aesthetics of harmony through opposition gave way to the aesthetics of harmony through analogy, in modern terms. But the bright decorative effect, which is achieved by the harmony of local colors, is still used in painting. For example, in the paintings of Petrov-Vodkin.

There is a curious point of view that explains why Renaissance artists painted in local color. The fact is that the technique in which they worked (tempera) did not allow applying one layer of paint to another. This became possible when the Van Eyck brothers started using oil paints. If we accept this version, then we will have to admit how much technology affects aesthetics, which is confirmed today by the example of color photography, film and television.

The 17th century was a turning point in the history of European culture. Rationalism and mechanism became the main methods of science. The researchers saw their task in dissecting the object under study, dividing it into its component parts, while, of course, analysis dominated synthesis, and a systematic approach, as we are now saying, was impossible in this case. Despite this, Newton can be considered the founder of the physical science of color, because he placed it on a solid foundation of a physical experiment with mathematical processing of results. He asserted the organic unity of light and color, their physical identity, and believed that color always exists and only manifests itself under certain conditions: “I found that all colors of all bodies are generated only from a certain arrangement that contributes to the reflection of some rays and the transmission of others” . Newton created an objective physical basis for color systematics by blocking the natural spectral colors in magenta and arranging them in a circle.

Fig.12 Newton's color wheel.

This circle (Fig. 12) turned out to be a very convenient tool for calculating the results of mixing color rays (additive synthesis).

Somewhat later, it was Newton's teaching that prompted Goethe to undertake the study of color, as we would now say, on an alternative basis, as a result of which physiological optics and the doctrine of the psychological effect of color arose.

In the 19th century, painters already used the scientific systematics of color; Delacroix showed how, with the help of a color wheel and a triangle, to facilitate the solution of color problems, and in the 70s, the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists already used optical color addition in their artistic practice. It was impossible to do this without knowing the teachings of Newton.

The great Flemish painter Rubens at one time provoked violent attacks from his colleagues for the fact that his palette was more multicolored than the canons of classicism allowed. Color in Baroque art then came to one of the main places, but theoretically this was not comprehended in any way, and only in 1673 Roger de Piles, in his Dialogues on Color, described the features of this style in relation to painting.

1. Color is not a secondary means: “In pictures, well-developed color is especially appreciated, even if the drawing is mediocre. And precisely because the drawing can be found in something else: in engravings, statues, reliefs ... at the same time, we can only find beautiful coloring in paintings.

2. In coloring, one should not be afraid of exaggeration: “As a draftsman corrects the proportions of his model, so the painter should not literally reproduce all the colors that he sees; he selects those that he needs, and if he considers it necessary, he adds others in order to obtain such an effect that will contribute to the achievement of beauty.

3. In painting, there is no difference between chiaroscuro and color, chiaroscuro is inextricably linked with color: "Correctly used lights and shadows do the same job as colors."

4. Light and color are compositional elements: "The ability called "light-dark" is the ability to distribute light not only on individual objects, but on the entire surface of the picture."

Roger de Piles believed that a thoughtful distribution of chiaroscuro and color in a picture can achieve the unity of the composition, no matter how many elements it contains. The "bunch of grapes" principle discovered by Titian was used as an example. Titian piled objects or figures together, as if in a bunch of grapes, in which the illuminated berries create an overall light mass, and those in the shade make up a dark mass. From this, the whole group is well surveyed at a glance, but at the same time, its individual parts are also clearly distinguishable. Rubens lived for some time in Venice, where Tintoretto allegedly told him that Titian used this “bunch of grapes” principle in multi-figure compositions.

5. According to Roger de Piel, the basis of color harmony is contrasting juxtapositions, as well as “color sympathies”, i.e. consonance of shades of the same color. And despite the fact that contrasting juxtaposition (warm-cold) is fundamental for colorism, yet between two opposite colors there must always be a third, middle one participating in one and the other in order to achieve harmony. This is served by reflexes, and harmony is achieved, first of all, thanks to reflexes.

De Piel also wrote about the psychological impact of color, about color associations. He divided colors into heavy and light, receding and approaching, introduced the term "earthly" (brown) and "airy" (blue). In the coloring of objects, he distinguished between local color (usually the color of lights), reflex, glare and lighting color, and this was a big step forward.

The German poet Wolfgang Goethe wrote: “All that I have done as a poet does not at all fill me with special pride. Excellent poets lived at the same time as me, even better ones lived before me and, of course, will live after me. But that in my age I am the only one who knows the truth about the difficult science of colors - I cannot but attach importance to this, it gives me the consciousness of superiority over many.

Goethe fundamentally, ideologically disagreed with the position of Newton and believed that he had to fight against his "delusions". He was looking for the principle of color harmonization not in physical laws, but in the laws of color vision, and we must give him his due, he was right in many ways; No wonder he is considered the founder of physiological optics and the science of the psychological effects of color.

Goethe worked on his "Teaching about Color" from 1790 to 1810, i.e. twenty years, and the main value of this work lies in the formulation of subtle psychological states associated with the perception of contrasting color combinations. Goethe describes in his book the phenomena of color induction - luminance, chromatic, simultaneous and successive - and proves that the colors that appear in successive or simultaneous contrast are not accidental. All these colors seem to be embedded in our organ of vision. The contrasting color arises as the opposite of the inducing one, i.e. to the imposed eye, just as inhalation alternates with exhalation, and any contraction entails expansion. This manifests the universal law of the integrity of psychological being, the unity of opposites and unity in diversity.

Each pair of contrasting colors already contains the entire color wheel, since their sum - white - can be decomposed into all conceivable colors and, as it were, contains them in potency. From this follows the most important law of the activity of the organ of vision - the law of the necessary change of impressions. “When the eye is offered the dark, it demands the light; he demands the dark when light is presented to him, and he manifests his vitality, his right to grasp the object by giving birth to something opposite to the object. Recall the “pendulum of emotions” we mentioned in the previous chapter.

Goethe's experiments with colored shadows showed that diametrically opposite (complementary) colors are precisely those that mutually evoke each other in the mind of the viewer. Yellow calls for blue-violet, orange calls for cyan, and magenta calls for green, and vice versa. Goethe also built a color wheel (Fig. 13), but the sequence of colors in it is not a closed spectrum, like Newton's, but a round dance of three pairs of colors. And these pairs are additional, i.e. half generated by the human eye and only half independent of man. The most harmonious colors are those that are located opposite, at the ends of the diameters of the color wheel, it is they who evoke each other and together form integrity and completeness, similar to the fullness of the color wheel. Harmony, according to Goethe, is not an objective reality, but a product of human consciousness.

Ill.13 Goethe's theory of color harmony.

According to Goethe, in addition to harmonic combinations, there are "characteristic" and "characterless". The former include pairs of colors located in the color wheel through one color, and the latter - pairs of adjacent colors. Harmonic color, according to Goethe, occurs when "when all neighboring colors are brought into balance with each other." But harmony, Goethe believes, despite all its perfection, should not be the ultimate goal of the artist, because the harmonious always has "something universal and complete, and in this sense devoid of character." This unusually subtle remark echoes what Arnheim later said about the entropic nature of the image perception process and that images that are harmonized in all respects often lack expressiveness and expression.

Goethe's book contains several very subtle definitions of color. For example, in painting there is a method of shifting all colors to any one color, as if the picture were viewed through colored glass, for example, yellow. Goethe calls such coloring false. "This false tone arose from instinct, from a lack of understanding of what should be done, so that instead of integrity, they created uniformity." Such color glazing, which is often considered a sign of good taste in color cinema, does not at all deserve such a respectful attitude, and that there are other, more perfect ways of obtaining color harmony, which, however, require more work and a higher visual culture.

It may seem to the reader that such a long digression into the history of painting is superfluous, that all the questions discussed are related only to painting, but this is not so. The fact is that all Goethe's observations about color interactions, about harmony, apply not only to a colored object, but, to the same extent, to its image, since the laws of perception of color and contrast in both of these cases are the same. Otherwise, we would never be able to realize the similarity of the object and the image, and most importantly, we would never be able to experience the emotional state that arises when perceiving a work of fine art.