Colour

Examples by Piet Mondrian, Alphonse Mucha and Winslow Homer illustrate the concepts of hue, intensity and colour temperature.

How a work of art or design looks and what we feel about it depends on a number of colour choices:

  • Colour relationship – are there similar, colours or very different, colours?
  • Colour temperature – how warm or cool are the colours used?
  • Strength of colour – are pure hues, lighter tints, darker shades or less vibrant tones used?
  • Emotional response – what moods or feelings do the colours suggest?

The colour wheel

The colour wheel shows the relationships between colours. The 12 part, red, yellow and blue (RYB) wheel shown is called a . This type of colour wheel is used when discussing art and design works.

The colour wheel yellow, yellow orange, orange, orange red, red, red purple, purple, purple blue, blue, green blue, green, green yellow

Question

What is meant by colour relationship?