Artists and Colors

Houses in Murnau by Wassily Kandinsky

Artists refine color into a signature palette—so much so that a painting can often be recognized by its hues alone. Here is what several artists have shared about their own relationship with color:

Wassily Kandinsky: “Color is a power which directly influences the soul.”

Bridge over Water Lilies By Claude Monet

Claude Monet on his relationship with color: “Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment.”

…In case you thought being an artist was all fun and games.

My parents by David Hockney

David Hockney: “I prefer living in color.”

I've Read the Past, I've Seen the Present, I Believe in the Future by Rossella BLUE Mocerino

When asked about her relationship to color and how her name reflects her style, artist Rossella BLUE Mocerino replied: “I can’t imagine a world without color—it would be a very dull place indeed. Each color carries its own distinct characteristics: when I work with red, I feel its inherent intensity and passion, while gold brings a sense of weight and gravity. I gravitate toward strong, bold colors and have a deep aversion to pastels; they will never find their way into my paintings.”

Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow by Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe: "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.”

Portrait of Woman with Hat by Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso: “Why do two colors, put next to each other, sing? Can one really explain this? No. Just as one can never really learn how to paint.”

Night Flight by Louise Nevelson

Louise Nevelson: “I fell in love with black; it contained all color. It wasn’t a negation of color . . . Black is the most aristocratic color of all . . .”

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (Portrait of Homer's Mother) by James McNeill Whistler

Winslow Homer: “A black and white, if properly balanced, suggests color.”

Reclining Tahitian Women by Paul Gaugin

Paul Gauguin: “Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.”

The Blue Code by Rossella BLUE Mocerino

Rossella BLUE Mocerino on why BLUE?

“Although I paint with many colors, blue is the only color I wear. In the art world, black is the standard uniform for gallery openings, so I began wearing blue as a quiet rebellion against that rule. Soon enough, I found I lived very comfortably in blue and that it started to shape who I am. I am completely at home in my blue life—so much so that I recently adopted BLUE as my professional name.”

Study from the Human Body 1983 by Francis Bacon

When I saw the Francis Bacon exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in January 2020, my immediate impression was the striking vibrancy of his palette. Upon closer inspection, however, the somber nature of his subjects took center stage. The takeaway from that show was clear: life may bang you up a bit, but even so—life has to be lived in Technicolor.