Quick Guide: Color Symbolism

The symbolism of the basic colors sets a question before us: how the painter able to combine colors in order to make a harmonious whole?

One of the complicating factors in color symbolism is that nearly every color has both positive and negative connotations. For each of the colors discussed bellow, we should remember that value and intensity modify its meaning.

In a simpler term, bright colors indicate intense emotions and pale colors just the opposite.

Each color is self-defining and its transmits its own message.

RED

Red is very emotional color, it is color of love, fire, passion, and also aggression. In primitive thinking blood is life, so symbolically red is a color of life. Red attracts us, convening vitality, warmth, excitement, but also call for attention, says ‘stop’. Red warns us for danger.

BLUE

Blue considered to be rarest color in nature. Thus, a blue ribbon awarded as first-place prizes, ‘blue-chip’, meaning high quality and ‘blue blood,’  indicate aristocratic person. In Christianity, the Madonna is usually depicted in blue, symbolizing fidelity, as reflected in our modern phrase “true blue”. At the same time blue feels cold and often symbolized sadness, depression, and isolation.

YELLOW

Yellow has the highest reflectivity of all colors and it is first to be noticed, that why its became a color of warning. In icons gold is equal to light, a heavenly light, from which God communicates.

Buddhist monks dyed their robes is saffron yellow as a constant reminder of mortality, for yellow is symbolic of death in that culture.

GREEN

While most people associate it with growth, spring, and foliage, it is also associated with mold and decay, poison, and jealousy. In our time, “green” implies being ecologically aware. This adds a fresh note to the old meanings of green as fresh. With this means, freshness can also carry a notion of immaturity and inexperience.

ORANGE

From  psychological point of view orange is similar to yellow, being considered to be a cheerful.

Its often associated with autumn and holiday season. When orange darkens into the brown tones, it is associated with comfort and security. Orange is color of maturity and harvest.

PURPLE

Purple express first and foremost the idea of wealth. Purple connotes bravery, perhaps an extension of its connection with royalty, as with the  “Purple Heart” – well known military medal. This color associated with deep feelings, it also associated with mourning for the death and loved ones.

BROWN

We find brown tones in everything that is considered earthly and we often associate it with certain season. It lacks the radiance and the dynamism of pure colors, so it is a low –intensity color and color of uniform.

WHITE

In Western cultures, for example, white symbolizes innocence and purity (think of a bride’s gown or a baby’s baptism dress), White color was chosen by some of monasteries as a sign of rejection of the material world.  White flags signals an honorable intent to surrender peacefully.

GRAY

Probably by association with gray hair, gray stands for old age and all that is associated with it: retrospection, inaction -  but also wisdom and serenity. Gray evokes sadness and melancholy, it is also color of ashes, which in alchemy symbolized immortal part of our personality that has survived the confrontation with primitive desires and emerged purified.

BLACK

Black is the total absence of light; the whole universe of colors is plunged into the night of black... (Pseudo-Dionysis hierarchy). And for this reason, black is also associated with unknowing, mystery, and intrigue. In Greek and Egypt, black was the color of the underworld gods.