COLOUR THEORY
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French painter. He
travelled to other continents to paint simpler ways of
life. He used pure colours to show the purity of nature.
In this painting, where colour is the main character, he
showed the simple way of life in Tahiti.
Observe and discuss
• Which areas stand out the most in this painting?
• Which figures in the painting look like they are near
to the viewer? Do they contain mostly warm colours
(orange, yellow, red, etc.) or cold ones (green, blue,
etc.)?
• Did the artist use cold or warm colours for the
mountains? Do the cold colours make them look
further away? Explain.
When light reaches objects, the objects
either absorb, transmit or reflect the
light. When the light is reflected, our
brain sees the reflection as colour.
Colours give us information about
objects. They help us to identify the
world around us.
We can perceive and use colour as
light (additive mixing) or as a pigment
(subtractive mixing). In this activity,
we are going to practise subtractive
mixing of pigments.
SUBTRACTIVE MIXING
Pigments are dyes that we mix with a paste or We obtain secondary colours (green, orange
liquid binder (oil, egg, etc.) to obtain paint. The and violet) by mixing primary colours:
primary pigment colours are yellow, magenta
and cyan. The mixing of these colours is called cyan + yellow = green
subtractive mixing because the colours lose
magenta + yellow = orange
their luminosity when we mix them and
eventually produce black. cyan + magenta = violet
We do not obtain these combinations when the
pigments are not pure or when the correct
proportion of each colour is not used.
COMPLEMENTARY
COLOURS
The complementary colour of a primary
colour is a secondary colour that does not
contain that primary colour. When we mix a
primary colour and its complementary
colour, we obtain grey or brown.
Complementary colours are opposite each
other on the colour wheel. For example:
yellow and violet
magenta and green
cyan and orange
PROPERTIES OF We define a colour through three properties:
COLOUR
Tone or hue: this is the colour itself. It
indicates the position of the colour in the
colour wheel.
Saturation: this is the purity of a colour. That
is, the amount of grey the colour contains. If it
contains more grey, it will be a less pure,
dirtier or more opaque colour. If it contains
less grey, it will be a purer, brighter and more
saturated colour.
Brightness, luminosity or value: this is the
degree of lightness or darkness of the colour.
We make it lighter by adding white. We make
it darker by adding black.
RANGES, HARMONIES AND
CONTRASTS
When deciding on the colour of a composition, we need
to consider which contrasts and colour harmonies will
send the desired message.
A range is a set of colours that have something in
common (tone, saturation, brightness, etc.). Depending
on its tone, a range can be warm (if it is mostly red and
yellow) or cold (if it is mostly blue and violet). The colour
of a composition can be balanced by using tones that are
close together in the colour wheel.
We can create a harmonious composition by mainly
using one specific range of colours.
We can create contrasts by placing complementary
colours together or a light colour next to a dark one.
