Sisy Wong

Have you ever think about how color is important to the painting?

Back in the 17th century in Europe, Baroque is one of the most important painting movements in the history of Western art. During that time, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer are famous Baroque artists.

In the Baroque period, artists liked to use rich and vibrant colors for their color palette. The artists used mostly deep red, greens, and blues for the Caravaggio painting and deep and luminous in earth tones. The rich color was used to show the texture and surface of the object like gold, silk, and velvet. Therefore, the painting was shown with a tactile quality.

For the lights and shadows, the artists painted theatrically lit scenes, so the characters were spotlighted from the darkest shadow area. The juxtaposition of light and shadow made the subjects in the painting pop up and the contrast of black and bright color made the paintings clear. Paintings in the Baroque period tried to bring the emotion and power of the stage to the painting. In most of the paintings, the light in paintings like a spotlight on the stage. Thus, the theatre color and materials of theatrical costumes were evoked. Also, the artists in that period can paint the emotion that they have never painted before.

Using the combinations of deep red or green with gold and using extreme dark and light is a signature Baroque technique.

Red is a rich color. It was considered to be a color of intense emotions, ranging from anger, sacrifice, danger, and heat, through to love, passion, and sexuality.

Green is a color that closes to nature. Green is the color of nature and health and it also has close ties with emotions of empathy, kindness, and compassion.

Resource: https://ourpastimes.com/colors-in-baroque-art-12587828.html, https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/5-greatest-baroque-painters/