MiCoo Art & Décor Blog
June 2025
The Power of Colour in Art
Colour is a crucial design element, arguably the most important. According to research, people form subconscious judgments about an environment or product within just 90 seconds of first seeing it, with 62% to 90% of that judgment being based solely on colour.
A survey across ten countries concluded that blue is the most popular colour across different age groups and cultures. The colour brown was the least popular having a very low ranking on the popularity scale. Though colour preferences can vary greatly depending on culture, context, and personal taste.
Specific to works of art blue has the most appeal while red and yellow also hold significant appeal as these colours create dramatic contrasts and express energy, passion, and vibrancy.
In Art colour plays a powerful role affecting the viewer’s emotions and conveying a wide range of meanings. Artists have long understood how colours can evoke specific feelings, moods, and responses. The psychological effects of colour and its symbolism vary across different cultures, but certain colour associations have universal resonance. Here's a deeper look into how different colours can influence emotions and communicate meanings in art:
1. Red
- Emotions: Passion, energy, love, anger, intensity
- Symbolism: Red is a colour of strong emotion, often associated with love and desire. However, it can also symbolise danger, power, adventure, seduction, violence or aggression. In art, red can draw attention and create a sense of urgency or excitement. It’s often used in situations where an artist wants to evoke strong reactions from the viewer.
2. Blue
- Emotions: Calm, tranquillity, sadness, trust, serenity
- Symbolism: Blue is frequently associated with the sky and the sea, representing vastness and peace. It evokes a sense of calm and can also be used to represent melancholy or sadness (e.g., “feeling blue”). In art, blue is often used to create a depth and stability also peacefulness, or a soothing atmosphere, or to symbolise wisdom, faith truth, heaven, coldness, and introspection along with contemplation.
3. Yellow
- Emotions: Happiness, optimism, energy, caution
- Symbolism: Yellow is often seen as a bright, joyful colour. It symbolises happiness, light, clarity, and intellect. In art, yellow can evoke feelings of warmth and positivity. However, in certain contexts, it can also symbolise judgment, caution or warning. It’s a colour that grabs attention and conveys energy.
4. Green
- Emotions: Growth, harmony, calm, nature, envy, balance, hope
- Symbolism: Green is the colour of nature, symbolising renewal, fertility, and life. It’s associated with calmness and balance and is often used in art to represent the natural world. Green can also signify prosperity and wealth, but it’s sometimes linked to greed, jealousy or envy. In more subtle contexts, it can convey a sense of healing and hope.
5. Orange
- Emotions: Creativity, enthusiasm, fascination, determination, warmth, excitement, optimism.
- Symbolism: A vibrant, energetic colour, orange is often seen as a stimulating colour that promotes creativity and enthusiasm. It’s less aggressive than red but still evokes a sense of warmth and excitement. In art, orange can create a sense of vibrancy and playfulness, often used to convey warmth and friendliness. It is can also have a negative connotation of abrasiveness, thoughtlessness, insensitivity, and vulgarity.
6. Purple
- Emotions: Luxury, mystery, spirituality, royalty, introspection.
- Symbolism: Historically, purple was a colour associated with nobility, royalty, ambition and wealth, as it was expensive to produce. It’s also seen as a spiritual colour, often linked to the mystical or unknown. In art, purple can evoke a sense of luxury, dignity, and creativity, but it also carries an air of mystery and sophistication.
7. Black
- Emotions: Elegance, sophistication, mystery, sadness, death
- Symbolism: Black is a colour that is often used to convey sophistication, elegance, and formality. It’s also associated with darkness, the unknown, and mourning. In art, black can create a sense of depth, and it’s often used for contrast, highlighting lighter colours or creating a more dramatic effect. It’s also used to symbolize the end or the infinite.
8. White
- Emotions: Purity, peace, simplicity, innocence
- Symbolism: White is the colour of purity, virtue, innocence, and peace. It’s often used in art to create a sense of openness, simplicity, and clarity. It can evoke a feeling of cleanliness or new beginnings. In many cultures, white is associated with weddings, new life, and spiritual enlightenment.
9. Pink
- Emotions: Love, femininity, tenderness, compassion, playfulness.
- Symbolism: Pink is a softer, more delicate version of red, often associated with love and tenderness. It symbolizes compassion, kindness, and nurturing. In art, pink can evoke feelings of sweetness, innocence, and youthfulness. It’s a colour that’s often used in depictions of romance or in artwork that seeks to convey warmth and softness.
10. Brown
- Emotions: Stability, warmth, reliability, comfort,
- Symbolism: Brown represents the earth, steadfastness, and stability. It’s often seen as a colour of reliability and comfort, conveying a sense of warmth and homeliness. In art, brown can bring a natural, earthy feeling, evoking thoughts of rustic landscapes or a cozy environment.
11. Grey
- Emotions: Neutrality, indecision, calm, sadness, depression.
- Symbolism: Grey is often seen as neutral, providing a balance between black and white. It can evoke feelings of calm and composure, but it can also be associated with ambiguity, uncertainty, or melancholy. In art, grey is often used as a background or to create a subdued, contemplative atmosphere.
The power of colour in art goes beyond mere aesthetics; it can provoke emotions, convey meanings, and communicate complex messages. Artists use colours deliberately to enhance their work and create emotional responses from the viewer. Whether it’s the calming effect of blue or the energy of red, each colour carries its own unique emotional and symbolic weight that can shape how an artwork is perceived and experienced.