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JoséM.Parramón
Z
 COLOR THEORY

A wonderful experiment
 COLORT}TEORl

I switchedoffthe light andwalkedinto

a dark room where the¡e were three
südep¡ojecto$. Each projecto¡had a
coloredfilter: one red, one green,an
other blue. On the wall hung a whitc
sheetthat se¡vcdas a sc¡cen.
In the dark, I pressedthe buttonof the
filst projector;the light cameon and a
red ci¡cle appearedon the screen(fig-
ufe 3).
Then I switchedon the secondprojec-
tor. A circle of green light was prc-
jected beside the red (figure 4). I
ñoved the red beam onto the g¡een
and a brilliant, lum¡nousyellow shape
appeared.(YELLOWI Any amateu¡
painter, howeveÍ limited his experi-
cnce,knowsthat grcenmixedwith ¡ed
givesyou b¡own,a dark brown,a kind
of chocolatecolor; but . . . yellow?)
I switchedon the third projecto¡with
the blue filter and movedthe blue cir-
cle on top of the yellow.Thc mixturc
of red, green,and bluecreateda patch
of WHITE LIOHT (figure5).
At that moment,it felt as if rny wholc
experienceas a painterhad collapsed.
I felt an urgeto showsomeonethis ex-
traordinary phenomenon.Extraordi-
nary to me, a painter,who wantedto
testwith his own eyesthe strangethe-
ory of Thomas Young, a famous
nineteenth-century E¡glish physicist,

Threc beam6of light, oDe d¡rk

blue.oneintensered. andar¡other
¡ntensegre€n,wh€nsuperimposed
on oneanother,giveá cl€¡r, bril-
l¡ant white light; in oth€r words,
theyreconshuct¡ight its€lf.

ll
 I
a t(
. i C O Io R I l t F o l t \

Lieht and its colors

lrn.rginr thrt il is a \üfirn!'f rilcrnr)(nl:

\ou ir¡c in rllr.ouIrr\ lh. cirrlllr\
drnrIi it hrL\ lu!r iLine.i rLnd lr\ l
slrrnqf Irrl(lo\. thc \un i\ \till \hini|lg
iri lt 'rIls iIto thc \..1 lir llr..1!irr.
rirdrLLu nltrrnrrfi¡c slr u¡ptrr|\ u lrrr
lirsliciIch r)l .o1or it r.rinl)(\\.
I n r h . ¡ i \ 1 i r l r r c .i I r \ \ r i l l l l L r i n ! . . \ .
\oLr Irir\ ilLr(rd\ kr¡(\\. \\lrcn ri|irr
(lrot\ rrrci\( r:r\sj¡'nr thr.un. thr\
r r c ¡l f , r ¡ r i l l i o r t ' o l ! l ¡ s f r ' f r s . ( l i \
I t r \ i n l l h e l r ! h l r n r ( )l h c \ r \ L o l o r \ L , l
llrf firi|lh(,s
. \ h o L ) ll N o l r r f ( l r . ¡ \ r i r r s r ! r i . I \ i r i r (
N . r \ 1 o I r \ r p r r ) i l u c c ( lt l ) L ' t ) l r . r x r n r r f ( ¡ n
o l t h r f r i r r h o \ \ i n h i \ h ( ) L r \ e1 l f \ l r L r t
h i n r s r l lu f r n ¡ c l ) n r I l . l . l \ , l i t r k r L ) ( ) ¡ r
¡¡ril 1.1 in ir lhin h!irr (il ll!h1. thr
cqui\rlrnt ol r sirgl( sunrir\. rhfr)Lrrh
ir llll! h()1. Ih.r h. jft.r.rl,t.(l th.
f i r \ \ \ r t l l r I n \ r n i r r r i i | | l g u l i r ir] i i \ r
ro!l rn(i nllrnr!.il ro rll\|cr\f thú
\ \ h i t . l i S h ti n r o l h . . o l ( ) r \ L , i l h . \ f i 1
,'¡rlr (lirur. h).

( olot! ol thr \rLt¡unt

\lr¡gcrrlrl
l{rd
\ ellt¡t

l)ark hlur

\ c i üs L r t r r . r h c I h ! \ r i r \ r \ L r, L r ! , l r L I .,rl
t \ p c r i n r f n l l l r l 1 \ , r \ t l r r L , l . l \ , ' r r !, ,
N , r \ \l L , n\ \ \ l l r l e \ ü $ l L i r r , i : \ i , ,/ \ l
l i g h r i n t o t l r f \ i \ r o l t ' r \ ( ) 1r h ( \ 1 , ! .
l J L r n r .\ ' ( r u n ! r r , ¡ r ¡ ¡ s r r ¡ r ¡ , rl/r : : h t l l r
protc(tfd \i\ .ol()r l,riu¡. ,il hrhr ,,rl
l o p ( ¡ l o r r ci l | ] o l h c f .l h . \ i \ r d l o r \ ( ] l l l r r
\ t f r l r u m . i t I r r (l J h l r i I e di r \ h i t r l i ! l
T o u r ) i l e r s t i I r r it h r r t ¡ h r s i , : u lI h c r t , , I r .
n L r n \. h c \ i | l l o u s f ] 1 r ¡ s c . ( l i r f k! o l { i r \
( ' f c r r . r l i ! h r ú r c r ) | t , \r h e n I r i \ e ( 1 .\ , i L r
h i 1 \ . t { ) r . n r . ! n h c . l h i L lt l r r . c r . L , ¡ r sr r e
t h c ( ' ( ) l o r (s) l I g h t . I l t d r t r er , ' l o t s1 ' r o
je(1.ij lr\ hc.rnr\ ol liirht Ih.r irlrrire
r h . r l l e c t s o l n i r t u r . rhl g h t l . r l l l h L L \ .
\ o L r( i r n s ¡ \ t h r l u h t n t o u r ¡ L t ,l r n t , : , ' l
o r L i ll i q h l l ( i ¡ ¡ ( ) r h . r . I h . r r r \ l u r . \ l l

tl
 COLORTHEORY

ct\,e you a more luminous, Iithtef li+h!

color. tor tnstance,by mixingthe lighr
cotorg¡ee¿r and the üght color ¡ed vou
wilfobtain a lighrerlight colo¡ yello9,.
Youngalsodemonstrared anotherim_
porta,nlcolorfaclor. By experimenting
wrtnhlscotorlamps,he showedbv the
processof elimination that the sü col-
ors of the spect¡um could be reduced
to threebasiccolorsof the samesDec-
trum. He fouDdthat with iustth¡eeco-
lors,_red, g¡een, and d;rk blue, h€
couldreconstruct whiteIishtlfisure 7).
And he realizedrtrat by-mixin-gthose
tnree cotors¡n pairs. be could obtain
threeothers:cyanblue. magenta,and
yellow.As a resukof this exDeriment-
Youngwasabfeto identifytheprimary
and secor¡d¿rycolors of the sDectrum.
You can sec thcm in the rouare below
(figure8).
 COLORTHEORY
Absorptionand reflectionof light
All objectsreceivethe three primary
light colors: blue, red, and green.
Someobjectsreflectall the light they
receive,while others absorbit. Most
objectsabsorbpart of the light and re-
flect the rcsl. This law of physicscan
,} be summedup as follows:
All opaqueobj€cfs,*hen theyare
illuminated,havelhe propertyof
reflectingall or pa¡t of the light
theyreceive.
No one has unmvclcdthc mysteryo[
why objectshavethe cokrrsyou seein
thcm, and no othcrs.Why is a tomato
red?You do knowthatwhena tomato
is illuminatcd,it rcccivcsthc thrcc p¡i-
mary colors*blue, green, and red-
absorbsthe blue and greenl¡ght rays,
and rcflcctsthe rcd ones.As a rcsult,
you seeit as red,
In fact, eventhis pageis receivingthe
three invisible light colors-blue,
green,and red. When the light colors
hit the surface of the page, they
bounceoff; thisreflectionis the sumof
the three light colo$, which is the
white of the page.
If an illuminated objectis black,the
oppositcwill occur. ln theory, when
the th¡ee primary light colors hit a
black illuminatedobject, they will bc
totallyabsorbed.Thisleavcsthe object
w¡tholt light, ¡n the dark, so to speak,
whichis why you seeit as black.
At the bottom of this page(figure9),
you can sec thc cffcctsof absorption
andreflectionon variouscoloredcubes
(whitc, black,rcd, yellow,andmagen-
ta), Notice the colorsthat rcflect and
the colors that absorb, giving each
cubeits particularcolor.
 COLORTHEORY

You have seen the colors of light

_painf the objectsthey comein con- Your pdmary colo¡s will be the
tact with. Whenthe threepdñary col- s€condarycolors of light and vice
ors of light are mixed in pairs. they verso;your second¡rycolorcwill
crcateth¡eeother l€¡ter colors,which be the primary colorsof light.
eventuallyreconstructlight fsclf-the
colo¡ lvl¡i¡e-whcn they are all mixed
togcthcr. No* I will explair why this inversion
But it is obvious that you cannot of valuestakesplace.
-paint with light. Or rather,you can-
not createlight colorsby mixilg dark Addit¡veand subtracfivesynthes¡s
The mixturesof pigmentcolorsalways
Moreover,you cannotavoidthe sixcol- mea¡. subttuctin| l.8rr, i.e., always
ors of the spectrumif you want to goingfrom light colors!o dark colors.
achievethis ir¡¡itarionof thc effects If you mix the pigment colors cyan
producedby light. blue, magenta.and yellow-three ob-
And so, what are yoü to do'?lhc an- viouslyluminouscolors-you will ob-
sweris to simplyvary the primacyof tain black.You obtainthc oppositecf-
ccrtaircolorsin relat¡onto others.. - fectswhenyou mix the light colors(fig-
still keepingthc six colorsof thc spcc- ure$l0 and l1).
trum as the basis.For example:

Fig. 10,Additivesynthesis.
.\

Fis. Subtractivesynlhesis,
 I
COLOR THEORY

Light, color, and pigments

:q l2 Wñen lght
''p¿
nls an oqect. n
does so by addiñq dil-
rerenr colored rays oi
9t1rat by addrt)ve sm-

F 9 13 Whe¡ you
pá nl" wrth prgme¡t
coors. you do so by
sll)ü¿cl ñg rght ob-
tanng the colors by
slolf¿cron, of s!¿tr¿c-

How light "colors" an object Hol' pigments"color" an objeca

Aatditivesynthesb:To obta¡¡ the sec-
ondarylight cobr yellow,thc light col-
or rcd is addedto the light colorgreen;
whenthcy are mi\ed. a lighterlightcol-
<x. yelloh,.is produced.Thus, yellow
is obtainedby the rrrlditiwrynthesisof
thc light colorsr¿rland g¡c¿x.
Subtractive synthesis:
To obtainthe sc-
conda¡ypigmentcolor green,you mix
cyan blue and ycllow. ln colors of
light, blue ahsorbsred and yellow ab-
sorbsblue. The only color they bolh
reflect is g¡¿e[, which is obtainedbv
the subtroctivesynthetisof blue andrcd.

Knowing about thc origin and the tones,and colors,in the modelbelow.
thcory of colorswill help you undcr- are classifiedinto primary and secon-
stand'howthe polychromcof shades, dary colo¡s(figurc l4).

l6
 COLORTHEORY

F¡9. r5. Ths coor

wheel shows voú lhe
crassifcatio¡ ol pig.
me¡l colofs, st¿rti¡g
rromthe thfeepfméry
colors(¡dlcatedby rhe
etter P). Whon mixed
n parfs,l¡e prmaryco
ors pfoducerhe lh.€e
s e c o n d a rcyo o r e( ¡ d -
car€dby rhe letters)
When the secondary
coo6 ar6m xedwrh
Ine pnmarycolofs,you
g€t re arv coorc lrnd
c¿tedwrh rhelelterf)

Mixing magenta Mixing lellou) Mixitrg clan blue

with lellow \aith .!an blue witli magenta
createsa /€d arezlesa grcen createsá da* blue

Br m¡rrnr ¿ primarycolot with the closestsccondary

color, you can
.fcrr. J trliary pigmenfcolor:
Finally. by mixing the rertiarics
l¡.rü lrÉn witb thc secondaries,you can
IIffi' creatc dnothcr darker range

rrI
callcd the "quaterna¡ies-' You
c¡n continue this processand
producean infinite numberof
(>:tt shades.

t7
 COLOR THEORY

colors
Complementary

By underslandingthe theory behind F l g s .1 7 , 1 8 , a n d 1 9

The rheoryof compe-
colorandlight, yol¡ canobtainanycol- me¡lérycoors can be
or on yourpalctlc.Next,youwill nccd s u m m e ou p n m e s e
o a g G m s :w ¡ e n M 0
to know how pigmentcolorscomple- p marycolo6 lmagen
mcntone another. la ánd cyan bue) are
mxeo,youoD¡ana séc
ondary color lrnrense
COMPLEMENTARY blue).whosé coñple
r¡entis the prmaryco-
PIGMENT COLORS or that was not ñclud-
Intense blue eompleme'¡E Jello'tt' ed ln the prevousm¡x-
Red coñplements clan blue 1úre (y€low).8eádñ9
eachdragr¿m you can
Green complements mageñta (and s e et h ¿ tn t e n s beu e s
the complement oi ye.
low; red¡s the compe-
mentol cyanbluetand
gree. s me compe-
Now.you mightbe saying, whatuseis me¡¡ or ñagen6 áno
thisinformalion aboutconplementary
colorswhile I m painting?
Well. . . bok at it thiswayrif youob-
servethe prcvioustableof pigmcntcol
ors carcfully.you will nolice that the
complementary colorsarc alwaysop-
positeonc anotherin all possiblc com"
binations (darkbluecomplements yel-
low-or vicc vcrsa. don't forgct-red
complements cy¡n blue. and so on).
'fo they
put ¡l anotherway. bccause
¡re complenrcnlary, thcy have the
leastin comnron. And to a pai¡ter,this
mea¡slhc chanceto createsu¡prising
contrasts. to paint cxlraordinarily lu-
minous shadowsor inlcnse back-
grouDds,
lt ¡lso means thepossibilityofpainting
with a raogcof broken"colors.ob-
tainedwith a mixtureof uncqualpro-
porlionsof comple|nenlary colorsand
whitc. But this is a subiectthal I will
leavefor lalcr-whenI discuss toninS.
tcndcncies and r:rnges.and.tbeart of
harmonizing colors.

Fg 20 fre úse .r ,ed coor .ortrásts

. o m p l e m e n t á r t. o o . s
6 owsvoL lo olrt¡ n |re
móstdensecoorcon
r f á s r sA r r n eD e gn n n g
Dt llr s .e.trúrY the
post ñipresso¡ stsa.a
the ióúvrsrs emphas
¡ rne, o¿.r ngs an
exd¡De or ris sqe
s rn s rerrorlrc: o.
ol A n d r e D ¿ r ¿n s
p án r . g t l t s ¡ m , ¡ s r e .
6rdgÉ Lpivale.o ccion,

1E
 (.OIOR TIIFOR\

MAGFNTA ls thc compl€meflt

of GREEN
CY^N R¡,UEls the comphmcntof RE[,
(andviccrersa)

COMPt,¡)MIJNTARY
PT(iNINNTCOI,ORS
'l
heJ ¡lrc thc s¡me as the primary
lighl cobr$-bluc, groe , and rcd.
S¡ncelhcso(ohrs trkc s$l¡1'lighi,
rvhcnfirircd lhrl (rc¡lr black.

l!
.n '' {/
¿.' .!l
.\ . O I - O RT I I I ] O R \

Colortheory:summary

,11.i
¡f\

P.rintingNilh pignrcrrtcol)¡\ is the op-

positeprorossto tho on{r:rpplicd to lighl.
Nli\ing pigment colr)rs¡l$.tts invoh{'s
taking .r$át light. subtracl¡restnthesis. U,,$(\fr. lht c¡rlorsof the sptctnrn¡can
For instance.br mi\ing thr thrce pri- l)f lL'undlr,rh in the colorsof light and ¡n
marr llgr¡¿r¡ colors, t{Ju (reálc bl¡ck.
 U U U Z S Z c o l o Rr H E o R y

COLORSOF LIGHT

o
PRI]IIARY
Red PRIMARY

v
ST]CONf)ARY
M agent¡ Yello*

o
Clan blüc M¡gcnts Yellol{

-
- 7
ú D¡rk bluc
. Thescllght colo$ ¡rc the s¡m€ plgment
colors(right) us€dby ¡ psinaer.

. This coincidenceollows an a.list

to imitate the effectsof lighi in ¡l-
lúm¡noled objects and io repro.
duce all lhe raues of color lhal
nalure has lo offer.

MEXICAI
PLANTEL
I O T EC A UNIVER
 CONTRAST

Contrastthroughtoneand color

Pigment colors ¡rc aclually a poor

comparisonto ¡he colors rnd lights
f()und in nature. l he f(rllowing iesl Nill
sho\y tou an €xample of thc diffcrence
betwccnnaturaland piBmenlcolorinS.
Imaginea Nhite wall lhat has a small
hole. which boks into a bldck spacc
w¡thout lighl. If tou were ¡o print.
with blackpainr, a shapecqual t() tha¡
of the hole Dexl to it. vou would see
lhat lhe black painr would lransform
into a dark Srayand n(f the rcal black
of dürkncss(figurc .18).
ln ordcr to imil¡te thc real conlrnsts.
Nhich exist betweenthc colorsin na-
lure. you have lo use a sericso[ rulcs
bascd on lhc frclors of contrastbe-
lwecn lor¿r and aoLr'.1.
A contrast prcduced lhrou-qhlír,¡r does
not involvccolorl instsad.it de¡ls rvith
thc lightncssor d rk¡css of a cctor.
For inst nco.¡ blirckhosidc¡ wb¡tc.a
d¡rk gfirv rDd ir light gr¡v. or ¡ conr'
t)inarionof blirck.gray. and whitc ¡rc
cxirmplcsof ioD¡l conlrasts,A dark
bluc and ¡ lighl bluc i\ ¡nolhcr tonitl

¡lo$c!cr. il lou print d¡rk rcd be-

side u dürk bluc. ]rou obtain thc con-
lr¡sl ('l onc cok)rl\'ilh ¿nothcr.A color
contrrst is bascd on thc diffcrenccs
thal c\isl bclNccn t$o colors.Finally.
if the bluc is d¿rrkand thc rcd is lighl,
lou achicvc¡ doL¡ble contrastgilcn by
.o1¿r'¡nLl/rr¡¿,rt thc samc lime (figurc
19).

I
I

.tu
 COLORAND CONTRAST

The law of simultaneous

contrast

' 1cn you have an are¡ of light color 'Ile lbllo\\'ins conclusionscan be ¡dd'
'J irnotherarca of d¡rk color. and cd t{) lour slud\ of colorl
- prrnr the s¡me coloro¡ topofbolh
. \ellow lemo¡rand r red tomato itt
- r¡se-vou \rill Bel thc optical il- A cobr appe¡rs darkcr whcn
. ,n lhal lhe ycllowof the lemon.or the color around it is lighter.
A color apprars lighter when
- rdd of the lomato. placcdon the
. :r surfaccis darkcr than the same the color around il is darker.
: lhced on the black background
:-:r. 50 ¡nd 5I). I'his is known as
.it||t:¡]us aoüLfa\L

+l
 COLORAND CONTRAST
Maximumcolorcontrasts
Fg 54 H€nrMatsse
1r869 r954) Po¡¡¡¡f o¡
Madr¡ne M¡rrsse, a so
khown ¿s Porrfár¡ Fov
¿ Fne Ars l.¡useJm.
Cope¡hage¡ t rsr (he
posr mpresso¡ sls ¿nd
t h e ¡ l h e ; d ! v s r sp a n t
co¡(asrs Dy l!rrapos.
n s c o m p e m e n r ¡ r yc o .
Yo! see n r¡ s pd nl i9
,11'
To obtaina maximunrconlras!thro(gh hcrcaresomepointsto remcmber:
tone.youjuslh¡ve rc painlblacknext Whcnplacedsidcby side.two colors
10 while.But what aboutfindingthc canbe enhanced in thci¡ tone and in
ma\¡nrum conlrirsl through co¿o¡: their color. On lhc other hand. the
whichcolorsshould!ou use?Blueand phcnomenon of successiYe imagesirlso
grccnl Red and yellorv?Videt .lnd takcsinto account the maximumcolor
rcd l contraslprovide{iby the conlplcmen'
tilr! colors.ll becomes evidentlhal r
Nlarimumcolor contrastsran be color cfeatesthe appearancc of ¡ts
producedfrom the juxtapos¡lion complementary color in ¡ts neighbor-
of complementarJcolors (ligure ingcobr or shadc.
It was thc color physicist, Chevrcul.
who discovered and stundardizcd this
lmporlanlphcnomenon.
The numberof complemenlarvcolors
is al¡noslintlni¡e.Il is not rcstricled.as
one might believc, to an cxclusive
combin lion ofthc primary¡nd secon-
oafv colors.
Fronr \h¡t \,ou have learncd so far.
 COLORAND CONTRAST

Inductionof complementary
colors

ly that althoughthe two g¡eensale

A color will cast its coú¡plem€n- identical,the one situatedotr the yel-
tary color onto a neighboringcol- low rectanglehasa slightbluishtone,
or or sh¡de. whilethe oneon the bluercctanglehas
a slight yellowish tone. The f$t rect-
angle(figure5ó) is receiüngan induc-
Test for yourseif this unique phenom- tion of blue,the complementary of yel-
enoridevelopedby Chevreulwith the low. The inductiorialso givesthe tri-
¡riangleson this page. ansle a blue¡ creen tha¡ the second
First, sta¡e lbr half a minute at the rectangle.The effectsare reversed
green triangle on the yellow back- figure57.
ground,and then at the greentrianglc
on the dark blue background(figures
56and 57).You will noticcimmediate-

Fgs 66 and 57 lf yoLr There ,s a y€lowish

lookior halfa m nuteal to¡€ on lne tnangre
rherra¡gleoñ thó blue with tha b!e b¿ck-
background andlhenal glolnd, ¿¡d a blu¡sh
the tnañgleoñ lhe yel- tone on lhe rriangle
low background,you w¡lh lhe yellow back-
willseé|heinduclion ol
cor¡plemeñbrycoors

45
 COLORAND CONTRAST
From theory to przictice
Delacroixoncesaid,"Give me mudand
I will paint the sk¡n of a venus - . .
with the conditionthat I can paint a¡-
ound her the colorsI want." Deldcroix
knew that with ceftain colors in the
background,it is possible¡o crcatc a
delicrtefleshcolor.
On one occasion,someonebegged
Rubcnsto acceptas a pupil a young
man who wasvcry kccn and very will-
ing
"He will setdetor anything.To begin
with. he couldhclp you paintthe back-
grounds,. , ."
"Ah. he can painl backgrounds?" Ru-
bensasked. 'Bring him along right
away;I havebeen paintingfor years.
and I havcneverbeenableto painta
background properly."
Rubens.likc ail great artists,had a
premonitionof the moderncolor
theories.Thatis whyhc thought
that thc task of paintinga
b¡ckground. while appear-
ing simple.was in fact
vcrycomplex.
You are now going to
study thescthcorics
from a practical
point of view.
To do this. you
will be us¡ngas
an example,an
il painli¡g
orr Parnungoyby rnc
thc
artistFr¡ncescSerra.
Fi8/r¡¿-58.Here is an inage
of a youngmodel. dressedin a white
blouse and a browD skirt againsta
white background.This is an cxample
of simultaneouscont¡ast. Against a
whitebackground, the toneof the face
is dark, grayish,and leaning toward
green- The blouse looks more gray
thanwhi¡e;the book is alsopart of this
brownish,grccnishtonality.
FiBurc59. This is the resultof the in-
duction of thc backgroundcolors. I
havepaint€dthe samefigu¡c on a red-
dishbackg¡ound;I havealsomodified
the color of the skirt, givingit a mo¡e
c¡imsonshade.The resuhsare bad.
The red background,leaningtoward
crimson.is the worstcolo¡for the olive
greencolor of the faceand the blouse.
Sincethe crimsoncolor castsits con-
plementarycolor. green, onto the
neighboringshade.it only uddsmorc
greento the cobr of thefigure.
Now, I will showyou an example with
a ycllowi$hbackground,with a range
of golden colors,.includingochres.
siennas.yellows...
Fig¿¿re ó0, No goodeithe¡.First of all.
the backgroundbecomcstoo impor-
tant.In thesecond place,whentheco-
lors of the figurc receivethe induction
of the yelbwish backgrou¡d,they be-
comemorc gray.The backg¡oundco'
lors casl thcir complementarycolor.
bluc (the compleme¡tary of yellow).
makingthc color of the face and thc
blouscpalerandmorefaded.

Figurc 61. Here is F¡ancescSer¡a's
magnificentpainting.lt showsyou the
bestbackgroundcolor match.The one
which, throughthe inductionof com-
plcmentary colors. ha¡monizesand
matchesthe color of the head, the
blouse,and the ski¡t. The colors are
not only pleasingto the ey€. but they
are alsooriBinaland a¡tistic.
FrancescSerras picture is undoubF
edly brilliant. It showsan cxtraordi-
nary knowledgeof color aDdthe theo-
riesyouarelearningin thisbook,which,
in short,may bc delinedas follows:
Beeringin mind therule ofthe in-
ductionof complementary colors,
you can modifys colorby chang-
ing the .color of the background
that surrounds¡t ao ¡ascomple.
mentarycolor.
COLOR AND COh'TRAST
Another important lesson can be
lea¡nedby studyingthis painting by
SeÍa. It showsyou that in painting,as
in drawing,the artistneedsto work on
the wholepaintingat once,lookingat
the cntirc picture,stainingand paint-
ing the entire sudace,and gradually
transformingor matchingthe colors.
For example.you mustneverpaintand
finish a figuIe without stainingin the
backgroundwith a color that will bc
compatiblewith the figure.
Remember,Chevreul himself wote
this definitivephraseon the subject:
Putting3 brushstrokeof coloron
a canYasis nol just stainingthe
canvas with thc color on lhe
brush.lt is alsocolor¡ngthe space
aroündit rdth its complementary
c0ror.
 fHI USE AND ABUSE OF WHITE AND BLACK

The color gray is 507owhite

To paint the light blue of a cloudless

sky or the dark red of a flower, it
seemsnatural, in thcory, that you h
would have the help of white and
black. But beware!By r¡singwhite or
blackfor a light blue, a dark red, and
so on, you can fall into the "g¡aytrap,
" cspeciallywhenyou are paintingwith
opaquecolors. such as oil, tempera,
pastel, and so on. Rememberthat
whitc is a color ¿nd will be treatedas
such in the mixture.Emilio Sala,the
art teacher,wasright whenhe wrotc:

Th€ greatestdilticulty wilh oil

p¡lnt¡ngis 10makethe whitevsn.
ish.

The fact is that white creatcsgray;

white is a basiccomponcnt-no less
th¡n 5070,togethcrwith black-of the
color gray.

AddingPh¡leto ¡ p¡rt¡cularcolor

{I
mc¡ns,bothin th€oryand in pr¡c.
tice, turning the color aogr¡y.

Haveyou cvcr heardaboutthc cxper-

¡mentwith coffeeandmilk'¡Ifyou takc
two glassesof coffec, with the same
amountin each,and add wat€rto one
glassandm¡lk to the othe¡,you will scc
that the water makesthe color of the
coffeelighter,leani¡g loward red. or-
ange,gold. . . . It reactsin a similar
way to the r¡ixture of w¿ter with a
tra¡¡sparentcolor sr¡chasa wafercolor.
While in the other glass, lhe milk
transformsthe color of the coffeeinto
a dirty sienna,a di¡ty ochre, a gray
crcam.. . . It reactssimilarly to the
m¡xturcof a white color-an opaque
color-with another cqually opaque
color (figurc63).
This experimentwill help you to un-
de$tand an ¡mportantrule:

Adding white 10a m¡xlureis not

th€ only w¡y to obaa¡¡a lighaer
color.
 THE USE AND ABUSE OF WH]TE AND BLACK

J
\
l# { rrr* .".*r" . AND BLACK

The color gray is 507oblack

You will scethat the useofblack is just

asdangerousasthe useof white.Takc
a bdght yellow, such as the primary
pigmentcolor, anddarkenit by adding
black. Nolicewhat happens:
when I mix the yellowwith thc black,
the ye)bw becomesdirty. a gfay. As I
graduallyblendin the black.it gives
me a shadethat is clearlygreen.¿ dirty
grecn.whichin no way corrcsponds to
the ideaof darkening the yellow.
In ord€r to banishthis error once¡nd
for all. you have to imitate the mix_
turescreatcdby light in natureitsclf
Indeed,the solutionis lo bc foundin
the spcctrumof colors itself. In the
caseof yello'"v.for example.you can
seein thc spectrumthat the da¡kness
comesfrom the rcd side.As the reds
arc transtbrmcd inlo oranges.they
graduallybecomelighter until they
reachthe cnlorycllo$ . . ¡nJ thenlt
blendswith thc greensand the blües
(tlgure 64). So. if you wcrc tu bre¡k
down the ¡angeof the color ycll()w.
you wor.¡ld bcginwith bl ck, thena !l_
oletred.anor¡ngeslcnnit. il slcnnl.an
orüngc)cllow,a d¡rk yellrrw. ir neutrr I
y e l l o wJ. l e m o n! e l l o s l n i x t u r co f
m
ycllow.grccn..rndwhitc).¡rcl fin¡lly
a whitc(figure65).

t
To conlirm this thcoty. figurcs66 and
67 showa graphicex mple of how to
lighten^nd darkenlhe colorycllow

Orangc
Blark

52
THE USE AND ABUSE OF WHITE AND BLACK

Fg 66 BAD: The
ábuse oi wh te ¡¡d
b a c k i s s h o w ¡ h e r ei ¡
the ovefal graying oi
the coor yelow The
p an t ¡ g i s a s o s p o i e d
by ihe greenlo¡es thlr
appear n ¡ne snaaows
Ths s¿qoodexampe
ol what not to do whe¡
pa¡r hg wth opaque

F s 6 7 G O O D :T h ¡ s
pa¡r n9 is q! te d ffe.
e ¡ r w h e n y o u u s ea l
the colofsoi ¡h€ sp€c,
lfumto dárkona.d lght
e n t h ey e l o wq u a l t yo f
¡he mode, l acqunes a
g r e a t e ff e a l s m ¿ n d
m o s to f a l , a g r e a l e r

-53
 THE USE AND ABUSE OF WHITE AND BLACK
'
Paintingwith the colorsof the spectrum

The langeofcolorsprovidedby the so-

lar spectrumshowsyou the best mix-
turesto useto lightenand darkenthe
primarycolor, cyanblue. You cansce
for yourself- in the diagram of the
speclrum,that on the lig¡t s¡de.the
blue is vergingon grce¡. Wlile on thc
dark side, it endsin an intense.dark
blueleaningtowardv¡olet,whichis rep-
¡cscntedon color chafts by ultrama-
rine blue. So you can see that in a
b¡cakdownof the color blue. there is
a greenishtendency(a bluishgreen)in
the ligl¡t parts.a neutraltcndcncyin
thc center.and a violet te¡dencJ.a
blue lhat includespurplc. in thc dark
parts.It is evenposs¡bleto seein the
darker parts a deep vidct Llclorcyou
rcachthc totallyb¡¡ckzone.
Now I will comparethe subjeclof¡ jug
and some blue flowers. first p¡intcd
only wilh blue.black.and whitc.and '::1.1(
then with all thc neccssary colorsre-
quircd for the subjcct (figures70
a n d7 l ) .

Coh¡lt
BL¡ck blu€
 THE USE AND ABUSE OF WHITE AND BLACK

Fs 70 BAD: A blue
subject p¿ nred exc!
svey wrh b¡ue ánd
mxed wlh whte and
back, gves an mag€
ke th s one. lt has poor
c o o r n g ; r n e f er s ¿ p r e -
domrnance 01 grays
that m¿ke lrre lfue
coor oJ the objects

: g 7 l G O O D H e ¡ el s
sF."ffi'ü;
. r nted wth ¿ 6nge oi
res 'ke¡heonerlus-
'ned l¡ Jig!re 69.
r¡pafe ths rmag,.
,¿ff:¡;t
. rh ln€ pr€vrousoñs
' I 7 0 ) A n a l y z er h 6
r orng oi ths pcrure
'I you wll seo
rens, d iferont b ú6s,
.'pes ¿n0voers, ¿s
, as back, whrch
'ohas zes lhe slblect

55
 rHL t sL AND A8l stl?!ll!!li i¡9 q!¡\¡

Finally, here is a breakdownof red' Fig 74 BAI .e!

usins the colots of the spectrumas a
mod;l onceagain.with black There
musrbe a mixtureof blackandvlolcl
fottowedb) crimson.red.orangercd.
o¡angeyellow,pink(pink.yes,butone
thatls t;ghtl) hngedwith yellow,-cs
yuuwillsee.sincethisis thecolortnat
lnrders on ¡ed in the sPectrumwhen
the red becomeslighter)' followedfi-
nallyb) $hite {frgure73)
The Dai¡tinqof tomatoes. wlththe use
of onlv ¡cd, black, and white in figure
74. and with the useof illl colorsin the
red spectrumin figure75. showsyou
once aqcinthat it is be\l to maKc
white v;n¡sh as muchas Possible"'
In short,the importantthing is to dis-
cove¡the chromaticstructllreot a col-
or as it lightensand darkens.This te¡-
dencv.as YoualreadYkno$'.may ne
influánced'by the colorof (he obiects
themselves. ¡onalcolor.
the andtherL'
flectcdcolor, which arccondltloneo ln
turn, by thc color and intensityof the Fig.75. GOOD rñ€
lisht and the intervenrng atmospncre
K'eeoing these factors in mind. you
hav; ttiudsc if the light3reasleanto-
ward veilow,red, or blue Then You
must ;roceed accordingly.completing
the mixtureby addingwhite As far as
the dark areas are conce¡ned You
mustreúemberthat:

Black, in itself, is not enoughto

representa lsck of lighl ilt

56
 'I
HE L SF AND ABLSL OT WHIfF AND
tsLACK

F l g 7 4 . B A D ]y e s . .
Judgingby the shape
anorhe dr¿wina, these
are tomatoesBut not
¡eally.Tomaioesdonr
haveihat dirty brow¡
¡sr co|or,orth€laravish
red. This is ¿ póor'ex-
arnpe parntedby an
amareur w¡rhno expeF
ۖce, who just tghr,
ened $e red with
whne and darkonedit

Flg.75. GOOO:Thess
¿re tomaloest8y r¡ix-
rngredandyelow (6nd
wn l€, or colrsa)i fed
ano cfmson,and btuo
a¡0 sren¡¿and gfe€n,
rn€ lrue cótor ot tho
slqect was prodlced
r n s r sa p e t e d e t . m -
p¡e oi th€ sot¡r spÉc-
üum, ¿nd rhe b¡éak-
dow¡ ot red ¡6pfo-

57
Twelvecolorsare enough
For the purpose of this study. I have
chosen a selection of oil colors. Oil is
the king of paints, from which the
names. definitions. and cl¡ssifications
uscd in othcr mediums such as wate¡-
color.tempera.pastel,coloredpencils,
ancl so on have been established.
In figure 77. you can see a selectionof
lhe n1osl *idely used colors. But re-
memberthat the cobr chartsprepa¡ed
by oil paint manufactu¡ersinclude a far
greater number of colors.
The enornlouscolor rrnge used by the
manul¡clurersrespond. first, to the
artist s nced :rnd ability to choose the
colors he considers to be in current
use.and second.to the opportunityto
choose and extend the normal range
wi!h onc or more specialcoloN.
I give a btal of tburteencolors-in-
cluding black ilnd white-which are
considcrcdthc most widcly used.But
I shouldalso mention that this rangc
can bc fcduccdto tcn colorsonly.
-li)
givc \rou an idc of this smallcr sc-
lcclion. I havc mrrkcd the ten most nec-
ossarycolorswith asterisks. Thcrcforc,
il you h¡d to reducethe color range,
you could do wilhout thc other four
Spcrkingof this list. Ict me now try to
i[]s$er ¿rrearlier quest¡oD.The ama-
tcur iirund it strangethat. since it is
possible1ocomposeall colorsjust with
lhe thrcc primary colors---<yanblue.
Ir]¡gc¡t¡. and yellow-why shouldthe
ar¡istmakehislife and his palettemore
complicatedby usingany more?
wcll. in rhc first place,as you can see
merely by going through the color
rangc. ycllow. red. and blue cleárly
preclomlnate.
And so. in theory.thc primacyof those
threecolorsrcmainsintact,
I shouldalsosar that this type ofcolor
range. used by someoncwho knows
whar hc is doing. makes the task of
mixing ¡nd composingcolorsinfinitely
lf yoLlwcre paintin8 with jusl the three
primary cobrs and wanted to obtain a
yellow ochre, for example, you would
haveto mix blueandyellowin un€qual
proportionsand then add a Iittle white
to the mixture.
ln shof. cachof thesenonp¡imary.ol-
ols hasa particularcolortendency,ex-
tremelydifficultto obtainif it hasto be
imitatedwith a mixtureof primarycof
ors. Chemically,this imitation is not
possible.becausethe chemicalcom-
positionof eachcoloris differcnt.Yef
low ochre.for example,is composed of
specially composed natural earths;
while in bluc. thcre is iron ferrocyan-
ide; in pu¡ple, there is cochineallac-
quer; and in yellow,there is cadmiüm
sulphate.Thesethree chemicalcom-
pounds, no matter how they arc
mixed. cannot give the exact shade
suppliedby the chemicalcomposition
of yellowochre.
ln thc followingpages,you will sec a
bricf studyof eachof the colorsin the
charton thc oppositcpagc.Thcrc is
alsoa discusion aboutthe shadcsand
qualitiesof eachcolor when they arc
mixed with othcr colors.Thc study
provesthat it is practicalandnecessary Cadnriu
to paint with more than threecolors.
l'e
otl
Cadmiumlemonlellorr Permatr€nt gra'€n
Cadm¡um Jellow medium* Emerald green*
Yellow ochre* Ultramarinebluedeep*
Burnt sienna Cobait blue d€ep*
Burnt umt)€r* Prussia[ blu€*
Light vermilion+ Titanium white*
Deep madder* Ivory black
 USE AND ABUSEoF WHITE AND B;(.K

Cadhiuh
b.non
ye
ore

ft"*",-"H.
 COLORSCOMMONLYUSEDBY ARTISTS

A studvof the colors

This study rcfers to commoncolors. morc and driesmore quicklythan the

For the mosl part. these tones and zinc b'hite.Silver lvl¡i¡¿makesil pos'
shadesare commonto any classof co! sible to achievemorc texture. with
or media. In any box of watcrcolors. paint madef¡om thick pastes.but the
tubesof ternpera.of caseof pastelsor disadvantage ¡sthat it causescracksor
colorcdpencils.you will lind the same fissuresbecauscof its thickness.Z¡rc
cadmiumyellowlight. yellowochre. )/¡¡f¿ is mo¡e transparentand more
cobaltblue.ultramar¡ne blue.and so fluid. but ¡t d¡ics much morc slowly.
on. They are manufactu¡edwith the which m¿kesit difficult to wo¡k on a
samcshadc.or one very similar.and paintingwhile it is drying. The con'
they usuallyhavethe samename. posit¡on of ¡i¡¿ni¡¡mry/¡¡l¿is some-
wherebetwe€nthe two. whichis wh\
Titaniumwhite it is more w¡delyusedthan the others
There are gcnerallythree classesof ln any type of opaqucmedia,sucha.
white in oil painting,classifiedby the oil. tempera,or p¡stel,wh¡teis oftcr
namcssrlv¿¡\'hie, zinc v,h¡tc.and ti- uscd,becauseit is a part of mostmir.
tan¡umwhite.l¡ is usefulto know that tures.This ¡s why rvhitepaint is man-
silver white is morc opaque, covcrs ufacturcd¡n largetubes(figure7li).
 COLORSCOM

,'-,|

PF

*'-"i 1'"( E
"*"".7,.,e r,,^F"'81'^lriQ
 f-t*'{
COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

Yellows

Cadmium Icmon ycllow this is that the blues are complemen-

and cadmium rello$ medium larv to the yellows (figure 8l B). Thc
Look al thc No \cllows comingout of mixturc that goes thc darkef is the ul-
th!-ir tubcs (figurc 80) and noticc the lramarine blue mixed with the cad-
m rkcd diiierencc in sh¡dE between mium vellow medium (figure It2 B).
thcnr. The citdmiunrlemon yellow (fig- which confirmsthe generalrulc thal.
urc 80 A)is lighlcr.with a slightgrcen- when mixed. complenentafy colors
ish lonc: rhc cad¡niunl\'cllow medium producc black-
(fiSurclif) Ii) is d¡rker and leansl()ward Study all thcseeffecls.Remcmberi¡r
orirnge.lho\c lcn(lcnciesconfirn the lutu¡e lhc possibilitv of iUuminatin€t"
Ic\$n in thc pre\i()u\ chaplcr (seefigure with the cadmium lemon vcllow or
65). \\tcrc il is eriplirined rhüt. bccausc ''darkeningwilh goldcn
oranges with
oi lcllo*"\ placcnrcnl in thc spectarn,a the cadmiumyellow medium.Keep in
liShl \ello$ leanr toward qrcen ¡nd a nlind ¡he diffcrcnr rangesof greens:
d¡rk Icll(xr lcansro$ard rcd. lhc fact that to obtai¡ra light. bright
As lou p¿rint.r'ou have to remcmber green.you have!o usccadmiumlemon
thcs{'basicdiilercncesbcc¡use.as vou yello\\r 1o achicvegoldcn.sap grecns.
shullsee i n ¡ n o n c n t . ¡ ) c l l o w( o r t h e usethc cüdmiumyellow med¡um.Rc-
color loLr h¡ppen lo he Lrsing)nixed mcmbcr. too. that !hc\e grecn-greens
\\ith othcr coloft ñill a¡\¡\'s reflcclrhe rre bcsl obtaincd '¡rrlh tnerukl grec
originalr'cllou or color usccJ. and PÍussian blue; sincc ultramarine
Lcl us l)eginb! looking rt figurcs81 á/re is the complemenlof yellow,¡t wi¡l
ln(l 3l: thc\c vcll()wsarc mixcd with give you dirty, grayish greens.
*hilc. In thc cadnriumlcDronyclk)w.
thc cr¡l¡rris nrrint.rincd(thourh it turns
imncrccptibl\t(xy¡Kl erccn):but $ith
thc cirürriunrycllow nrcdiuln.thc orig-
inul cok) is lrllcrcdto a crc my color.
Thcn nole lhrt b\ r¡li\inl¡ .¿rlr¡irn
lcn¡¡n ttllt¡:. o(l¡t, vltit.,.\nd rcd, il
is |ossibli, t() oblitin a $i(le range ol
Ilcshcolors(ligurc ¡il A).
Ne\t. notrcelhc mixlure of cadmium
!'cllow Dediu|n Nilh red nnd crimr)n:
\ou ca¡ sce th¡l thc cad|niunlvell)$
lnediunrrakfs lhc brillianceir\\'avfronr
the ()rrngcs.pirrricul¡rlvwhcn nrired
t\ilh ,¡¡lr1¿¿, (r crinr\onshadc)(figurc
tit A ).
Bu1 lhe influcnccol each color r\ lhc
moslroticcirhlcin lh! rni\turcsoldr¡.r'
¿/¿/r.:r¿rlri¡n!l thc lhrce blucs:.i)/)r¡lr.
uln¿nnti,r:. !t1d P,r/rrid/¡.Stud\'thc\e
partsol ligure'sNl irndtil. S.. ho\'the
cadnrrtmlc lon vc11o\\achicvelia lu- FIG,80B
minous |arict\ of grecn\-ligh¡ and
brillii¡nl:s hilc in ¡hc nli\ture\ \\ ith ¡hc
c¡dIniunl \fllo$ nredium.thr gr'rfn\

N"otc.too. lhat Nhcn the sreensrrc

mixcd *ith (rúd¿ ó¿k ritld ultmntut¡n¿
ó/¡ft,.ther bccom!'{ra!: ¡hc reasonior

61
 COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

Fig.81:
CADMIUM LEM

Prüssian
blu€

CADMIUMYELLOW
Ultramar¡ne
blue
,",,-Gf'---'t

Cobalt blue
 COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

Ochreand siennas

YellorYochre and burnl si€nna Raw sienna

tsy mixing vellorv ochre and maddc¡ (a
crim$n shadc)¡nd a little whire. you
can obt¡in burnt sicnna(figure84 A)t
and by mixing burnt siennawith yellow
and a littlc while. you can ge! lellow
ochre(figure8,1B).Theseare two sim
il r colors. with the diffcrence being
thc tenclencvof one toward yellow and
the other to$ard cfimson.This simi-
larity att¡cts the mixtu¡es of rhese col-
ors with othcr cok)rs.In mixtu¡eswith
ochre. yellow lvill appear.With burnt
sie¡rna.the tendencvlvill be toward a
This color is simila¡ to yellow ochre.
with the only differenccbeingthat it is
darkerwithin the sameshade.
When raw siennais mixedwith whi¡c,
yellow.and red (figure86 A). you can
obtaina wide rangeof fleshcolors.
Raw siennacan also be darkenedby
graying.When mixedwith blues,you
can produce an exceilentquality of
greenishgrays(figure86 B).

Bolh colors conl¿tinwhite; thcre is

nrore in the ochre than in the burnt
sicnna.And both colorscontainblue.
which mc¡ns that the two coloÉ cao
tunr grrY. In tigure 6,1C. you seethat
thc ochre nrixcd with white and red
givcs¡ ileshcobr.
When ochrc is mixed with red or a
crinrcn sh¡rlc.a r¡nge of earth colors
nnd s¡!nn¡s,csserrlial to an artisfspal-
ollc. is ohtaincd.
Miricclrvith cncr¡ld green. the ochre
produccs brownish but luminous
Srccns.irs it docs lvhcn mixed with
Prussi¡nbluc-¡lrhouSh with this mix-
turc a Ll¡rkergrccn is obtained.
Fin¿rll),.whcn mixed wilh cobat blue
nd ullraDrafiDebluc. yelluw ochre
produce\crilyishbrowns,
Now look a1 the mixrures obtained
with buf¡t sicnn¿: the s¡lmon coklr
produccdhy thc ¡ddirion of whilc (fi-
Surc ii5 A)t th!'monoroneth¡t comcs
ironr nririn!t il \\ith \cllo\\. rrd. rnd
crrnsoDtrnd rhc richne,isof ¡hc !rrr\
Lonesobtilincdh\ nriringir rvirhemr'i
ald greenand bluc (ligureS5 B). \or- FIG.8 3 C
rce th¡l $ilh encr¡ld rtrccn (iri com
plement¡rvcolor). black or r d¡rker
tone rs produccd(figurc S5 C). Fronl
thcsecolor\ $irh rhe \.1rian¡spro!ided
b) lhc cobalt.rnd1ll¡ramrinc blue\_a
ve¡! rich rangcof g¡ir\s a¡d bro\\nsis
obl¡iDed.\hich is essenrialfor paint,
ing shadows areasth¡t ¿re not com
pletelvblack.
 COLORSCOMMONLYUSED BY ARTISTS

:.'-i:-:
re
Red and crimson
COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

Cadmiumred and úadde¡ or is cleaner;the pu¡plesappeartrans-

when you comparethesetwo colon, parcntevenin the shadowareas(D).
you'llnoticethe markedbluishtenden- Finally, notice how the mixture of
cy of madder(or crimsonFa primary madderwith Prussianblue producesa
color that cannotbe reproducedwith violet almostas da¡k as a black (E).
other colors(figures87 A and B). To a ce¡taindegree,this black is the re-
You have aheady seen tbe results sult of the rule of complementa¡ies:
thesecolo$ givewhenmixedwith yel- Prussianblue has some greencoloring,
lowsand ochres(figures81, 82,84, 85, andgeen is thecomplement of madder.
and 86). However,it is worth exam-
ining these brushstrokesof madder
combinedwith lemonyellowandwhite
(89 A). They p¡ovidea wide rangeof
flesh colofs, cteams, oranges, and
¡eds.whichare very usefulfor darken-
ing. Also notethe luminouspink prod-
ucedby the mixtureof whiteandmad-
der (89B).
As for the mixtureswith greensand
blues,both the cadmiumred and the
maddercan be darkenedwhen mixed
with emeraldgreen-sincethis is thei¡
complementarycolor, especiallyfor
madder.
In the area indicatedas C, wherethe
^$
black is darkest,you can seethat the
madderhas beenmixed with emerald
greenand bufnt umber(be carefulnot
to confusebufnt umberandbr¡rntsien- FIG.87A
na). Make a note of this combination
for obtaininga perfectblack.

madder+ cmeraldgreen+
burnt umber= black

This deep black seemsmore perfect

than blackitself. It is a blacktha¡ has
a ce ain tendencytoward crimson.
green,or brown; a black!ha! ¡s prob-
ably more in tune with thc dominant
colo ng of the model-greenish.crim-
sonish,brownish-within a black ¡on-
ing. FG. 878
Let us now considerviolets and pr¡r-
plesobtainedfrom mix¡uresof red and
madde¡with bluesand a bit of white.
Violets and purples a¡en't as clean
when they ar€ composedusing red
ratherthan madder.In the violetsand
purplesobtainedfrom madder,the cof

68
COLORSCOMMONLYUSED BY ARTISTS
 COLORSCOMMONLYUSEDBY ARTISTS

Burnt umber and emeraldgreen

Burnt umber With the blues and white, üis color

Bu¡nt umberis a colorsimilarto black, gives dch ranges of bluish greens,
w¡th thc only differenccbeing that it which when mi,xedwith yellows can
hasan carthy.dark brownshade.This produce all k¡own and possible
shadeis visiblein mixtureswith white greens.It alsoproducesvelvetyblacks
and yelklws(f¡gure9l A). in combination with bumt umber,
Notice thc peculiariryof th€secolor- madder,andPrussianblue(92B). It is
ings:the burnt graywhenthe umberis a color that appearstransparentin
m¡xedwith whire;the yellowsthat turn manylight and dark shadows;a color
loward ¡ sourgreen.a kind of yellow- that is presenton the paletteof every
¡sholivegreen. expen anrst.
Burnt umbershouldalwaysbe on your ln shoñ, emeraldgreen is the only
palette.It is not only indispensable for greenyou need to obtain all imagin-
obtainingblack:it is the idealcolorfor ableg¡eens.
brcakingup slridentslrokcs.and the
bestcolor for producin8grays(91 B).
while thiscotormaybe dange¡inthc
hrndsofan incxpericnccd pAintcr,it is
aDinvaluable instrument in the hands
of a professional. rvhois c¡pabl€of us-
ing ii in thc right mersure.takinginto
irccountthat il is a nccessarycolor and
a usefulsubslitutefbr black-without
beingco|)plete¡v black.
Bccauseburnt umber ¡s an eminently
dark color. il is easylo use It fo com-
posc another perfect black basedon FIG.90A
fhis combination:

burnt umbe¡+ medder+

Prussianblue= black

_fhis
black, as you úay haverealized.
givesthe artist a chanceto enhancea
bluishor purpletint that may be in the
coloringof the model.

Emerald green
As w¡th the other primary colors,
greenis a necessarycolor.
_fhc
emerald ¡ond¡¡fl has a slightly
bluishgrcen,whichis usefulin obtain-
ing a wide rangeof greensin combi-
nation with yellows. You can also FIG.90B
producea rangeofgreenbluesby mix-
ing cobah. ultramarine,and Pruss¡an
blues.
Mixed wirh while. it givcs a bluish
greencolor (92A). which.whe¡ mixed
with lemon yellorv.makesa fine lu-
minousqual¡iyof palegreens.

70
COLORSCOMMONLY USED BY ARÍSTS
 COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

Blues

Cobalt blue deep, ultramarine blue And black? Is there no black in oil
deep,Prussianblue colors?
ln order for you to distinguishthe Yes, there is, but why run the risk of
characlcristicshadesof eachof these grayingaoddirtyingeverything? When
blues.I havebrokenthem down with it can be better obtaincd,with a finer
whiteandthcnmixedthemwith mad- color sense,by mixing crimson.burnt
der and a little whiteto makcthreevi- umber, emeraldgreen, and Prussian
olets. blue?
ln any case.it can be said that ivory
Cobsltbluedeep,a blueblue black usedwilh careis a useful.even
Thc proof lh¡l cobalt.a luminousand magnificent,color.
transparentcolor. is lhe finest "blue
blue is that it alwaysappearsin shad-
ows. lmagine a radiant l,hitcwashcd
wallin full sunlightt
if youexamine its
colorsl¡ucture. you will find that the
shadows on ¡hewall.whcthertheyare
gray.bluc.or violet.\\,illincludecobalt
blue in thcir composition. Picturea
stain of luninous bluc-a light
blue-placcdin nature.bathedin sun-
light.in full radiancc.
¡nd./ouwill see
cobahblueappearagain.I! is a neutral
color bluc. madcof light and brighF

Ultramarinebluedeep,¡ violetblue
A gr l otrlaincd withcobaltbluedeep
¡nd 8r¡y obtaincdwith uhramarine
bluc deep can be diffcrentiatedbc-
causethc liitlcr showsa ¡eDdency to-
ward crimso¡.This justjfiesthe uscof
L¡ltr¡nafineblue dcepin any opaque
or darksh¡dow.tsulfirsrvoumustsee
if the blue.or the dark partsthat re,
quircblue.in yoursubjecthavca tcn-
dencytolv¡rclthe r.,l¡ml b/¡¡cofcobalt
or thc r'l¿1¿l
b¿r¿'ofultrdnarine.

Prussian blue, a radiánt bluc

'lhis
is a very intenseblue that can
donrinateanothercolor. but can also.
if usedwilh cuution.producccxtraor-
dinary lrrnsp¿rentshades.
In conbinalion wilh white. it has the
quality of graying a¡rd. at thc same
time. of illuminalingilny color. Re-
mernbcrwhcn vou painl dark tonesor
Iones in shndow Dot to abuseit. Mix it
'"\,ilhothcr blues.

'72
 COLORS COMMONLY USED BY ARTISTS

COBALT BLUE DEEP

It i:!
 HARMONIZING COLORS

The meaningof "range"

Music... painting... combination

of sounds. . , combinationof col-
ors , . , an obviousanalogy,However,
litlle attentionis paid to analyzingthe
laws of harmonizationthat govern
painting. You will see that, along
broadlines,theyarc compa¡able to the
lawsof music.The first and most im-
portant coincidenceis in lhe word

In facl. the wo¡d /¿ngecomesfrom the

systemof musicalnotes inventedby
Guidod Arezzoin the twelfthcentury.
Hc cstablishedth€ classicorder of a
sclle of sounds representedby the
nofcsdo. re, mi, Ja,so, la, ti, do. Con-
srderingthat thissystemis pe¡fect.you
cansaythat:

The word ra¿georiginellJmeant

a successionof soundsorderedin
a particularway, whichwascon.
sideredp€rfeca.

By analogy.in painti¡g the wotd ranSe

appliesto the succession of spect¡um
colors.This is basedon the ideá that
this color succession,as it appears
whenlight is dispersed,presentsa per-
fect order. And so, it is not strange
that by extendingthisconcept.you can
applythe term to any scaleo¡ ordered
color succession,suchas the onesyou
secon this page.For instance,the ex-
ampleof a tr¿r'mcolor range(figtres
l09 and 109A); ^ cool ranSe(ll0 and
ll0 A). anda brokencolor range(llL
and 111A).

88
HARMONIZING COLORS

89
 IIARMONIZING COLORS

The rangesof colors

I will now discussthe rangesof colors.

ln order to hav€a better understand-
ing of how to applythis t€rm to paint-
ing. you shouldlook at the opposite
page,figureI14. This is a rep¡oductiori
of the spect¡um,with its inñnite va-
riety of colors,tones,and shadesiit is
perfectly ordered and basically in-
clüdcsthe primary,secondary, andter-
tiary colors.From left to ¡ight:

Magcnta, crimson,red, orang€,

yellow,l¡ght gr€en,green,emer.
ald green,cyar blue,ullr¡¡¡¡¡¡ine
bl¡¡e, dsrk blue or purple, and
v¡olet,

You should think about translating

thesecoio¡s into tones,for example,
into a seriesof grayswhosevaluesare
in acco¡dance with the o¡der and to¡-
alit¡esof the spectrum(figure115).By
do¡ngso, you w¡ll alsoobtaina perfect
succession of orderedelemer¡ts; in this
case.a r¡nge of g,'au.
In addition,you canseethat the ñean-
i¡g of the word range can rcfer not
only to the orderedsuccession of the
coiorsin the spectrum,but also to ¿
part of thc spectrum----evento a single
color of thc spectrumbroken down
¡ntoa scale.or range,of differentton-
alities.Hence,you cancometo the fol-
lowingconclusion:

RANGE ¡s a¡ry successionof J,er'

fectlyorderedcoloreor lores.

Figs I t2 and I13

J M. Panan6n, Fohe s
idetal), prvate colé.-
¡oñ FereG¿classc
etample ol ¿ @l col-
of r¿nge, wm a pre-
doñnance oi blues
ano grens n he ong-
na colo.s Below 6lh6
sáme panr ng fepfo-
duced . báck añd
w¡lre, corespond n9
lo lhe de¿ol ¿ raDgeas
a slccesson ol per
lect y orderedcoors o¡

90
HARMONIZINC COLORS

F i g s 1. 1 4a n dl 1 5 f h e
coor Bñgeor lne spec
lrum; below l rs a
ra¡ge ol ochres and
tellows,which can be
€presenreooy a r¿¡ge
or glayco/o¡sfhe ye
bw ano gray ¡anges
cor€spondro rhe de¿
ol a súccession ol per

Í!

9t
The rangesmostoftenusedin color harmonization

I will illustrate this lesson*ith the fol- orsiDthistable;theya¡eeasyto locate

lowing iñagesl
Flgure 116. Here is a spect¡um range,
in the fo¡m of a circle,composedoI the
primárycolors,yellow,cyanblue, and
magenta(the t¡ianglesin high reüef);
the secondary colorr,green,da¡k blue,
and red (the üar¡gles on the sa6e level
as the outer circle); and betweeneach
primaryand eachsecondary color, the
tefiary colo$, light g¡een, emerald
green,ult¡amarineblue, violet, criñ-
son, and orange(the trianglesin low
relieD, Study the complementarycol-
if you ¡emembe¡that they are always
the colorsir direct opposition.
Flgüre121.I¡ this palette,o¡ ¡ange,
you canseethe mixtureof eachcolor
in the spect¡umrat¡ge.
Ftgurei117, r1t, U9, 120,Finálly,
hele you have a chanceto see and
studyvariousexamples paintedwith
eachrange of colo¡s.

92
 IIARMONIZING COLORS

h
 HARMONIZIN-G COLORS

Melodic range

Lct n1ebegin with the first and sim- gray appears with a slighr touch of
plef r ange.or harnronizationi
Finally.look at thc picturc to seehow
this palettewas applied.
The melodic range is composedof
a single color. broken down into The ntelatlicrungeo\\es its name l() the
meaning of thc musical term ltr¿Lr.1r.
1rro diffe¡€nt tones, and ¡ncludes
Bec use. it is indeed the song . . .
black and }hite.
solo.with no accompirniment. ll is ihe
song \,ou sing to rourself. thc samc
songtha! vocalistssinc.indcpcndcnlof
ln figures1ll and l2l. vou can seeex-
alnplcsof mclodicr¡rngesp¡inled wilh
¡n ochrc-sienna color and Lllack(lcft)
¡nd a bjue and hlack color (oppositc
P¡gc).
-lhc
resultsobtai¡rcdwith ¡ nrclodic
ran¡c arc su|prisin,:in spiteol its sim-
pliciti. l1 showsrou that it is possiblc
lo ol)llin a grcal $cLrlthof shades.
brrring in mirrdlh¡l lhe colorsall or
iginirtelronr ¡ sing||.colof. with tho ad-
(liti(nr1)l \,"hile¡nd black. In fncl. the
sccrcloi thc Inclo(iicrrnge is b¡scd on
pn)t)crlyrdminrstcnnglhc whilc rnd
thc bl¿rrkin rclxlion ro lhe color r¡n8e
(scc lhc bl!rc i1luslr¡lion).Firsr. you
nrusl rrnrcnrbcrthrl by Drixingwhile
lunll blircli rou pft¡dLrcei¡ ncw color ir
ncLrlful !rir,"-in(jcpcndcnl of thc
rrnge color. Ancl seconll.feüentber
thirl l)oth thc \\hilc rnd the black.
\\hcn mi\ed $irh rgi!cIlcolor.will¡rod-
il! theif shLrde to producca somcwhat
(lill¡rcnl cold (Do you fecallthe les-
r)n on pirres50 lnd 51. with thc cx
¡nplc ol the bl¡ck and whitc cotTee'l)
I his tvpc ol ch nqc ir ¡he color ranse
cirn c¡usc ¡r lol ol dan¿ge when ]rou
':i
rrc doing i¡ full-colorpainting.But in
¡ monochron¡ticp¿rinting. suchas the
'
one on rhis piue. i¡ is highl! beneficiai
and ¡clvantrgcous1()use.r range like
¡his Ll¡c. lo clrrroboralc thesc re-
n¡fks. look a¡ lhc p¿lcttcranScin fis
ufe 1ll. Noticc holvthe toneswereob-
t¡ined onl\' *ith the color blue. The
color ¡ppcarsfullr s¡turatcd\rhcn it is
nr\cd r\ith $hilc Whcn it is mixed
with bhck. it Lrecomes a darkefor light-
er grav. Studr carefi¡llvthe ovcriL,!
cfa! shade\that are a produclofblack
rnd $'hite and the other sbade\rthe
 HARMONIZING COLORS
Fg s r 2 2a n d1 2 3( e í r )
M chelángelo,Mádo,
ú wnh Child MiclÉ-
angeromaderhs dfáw-
¡n9 on ¿ lighr yetow
ochre p¿per Dfawng
w t h s € n n aa n d b á c k
,::,:f
c h a l ka n d b r ¡ g ¡ g o u t
l h e w h i r e sw t h w h t e
ch¿k, he acheved a
tion Q¡ lhe opposii€
page, vou c¿n see ¿
ponrart oi wnsto.
Churchil that pa nlec
w t h b a c ka h db l u ew á
¡e.color,using also thÉ
white oi rhe papef fh s
s a n o ¡ n eor x a m p eo T¿
co orharmonzarionpa¡n1
ed vi rh a ñe¡odic Én
 HARMONIZING COLORS

a mixture of complementarycolors
W}len you mix two complementarycol-
ors, g¡een and red, for example,do
you know what happens?You get a
very dark, almostblackcolor.Suppose
youmix themin unequalparts . . . you
will obtain either a dirty ¡ed, leaning
towardsienna,or a grayishgreenwith
a reddish tendency-acco¡ding to
whether there is a predominanceof
greeno¡ ¡ed. Finally,imaginethat you
tone down both colorswith white and
then mix them together.
By doing so, you will obtain a wide
rangeof g¡ays:somestainedwith ¡ed,
otherswith green,othe$ with sienna,
some even with an och¡e tint, and
so o¡,
The harmonic ¡ange of grays is
achievedthroughr¡ixturesof comple-
mentarycolorsi insteadof usingonly
two complementarycolors, all the
complementarycolors are used. The
followingis the formulal

The h¡rmonic rango of gr¡ys,

through th€ m¡xture of comple.
mentary colors, ¡¡ composedof
pairs of complement¡ry colols
mlxed ln unequalproportlonsand
grayedwith white.

This cornbination givesa rangeof neu-

tralizedgrays,extremelyetf€ctiveand
of high artistic quality. A range in
which the t¡ue dominant color is
gray . . . but with enoug¡colorfor th€
picturenot to look subdued,úonoton-
ous, or di¡ty. Seefor you$elf, look at
the colorson the ¡angepalette(figure
135).Noticehow the white is decisive
in eliminatingstridentnotes,attenuat-
irrgcolor, btrt nof tone,and enhancing
cont¡asts.This is how you obtain an
exceptionalpicture, with subtle har-
monizationthat is delicatein color,yet
energeticin ton¿(figüres132and 134).
Finally, rememberthat the choiceof
compl€m€ntarycolors and dominant
colorsdependson the subject.

100
HARlrfo\lZI\G ( ()l Ik.

Flq 134 J M P3':

ñú, Leñohade, .'
vare colleclon The .¡
lreme qla ¡¡es ol i.¿
gfays, ¿ ñxrúre o
coñpl¿meni¿ry coloi5
r ¡ u n e q u a r p a ñssr a v e c
with white, É eviden:
here wlth aLlits expres
sive possibLitiesThere
s no need lor back to
obtain these delc¿le
shadesr just rhe com
b nation ol the compe
rnenlary colofs wrn