Artists and art enthusiasts alike are enthralled by the world of color and the many ways colors impact us visually and emotionally. We know color can alter our moods, stir a memory, and inspire us.
As the curator of many art exhibitions devoted to color and a book I wrote devoted to the subject I have observed a myriad of combinations and effects.
“The Healing Power of Color” exhibitions have attracted many talented artists and have received rave reviews from viewers on my other site The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS.
The level of enthusiasm and interest I’ve received on the subject inspired this quiz /article “Do You Know These Facts About Color?” I share some of the thousands of facts I have acquired on this topic.
I hope you enjoy taking this quiz and learn many new facts about color.
You’ll find the answers at the bottom of the page.
Do You Know These Facts About Color?
1. What famous artist added umber to the ground layers of his paintings because it promoted faster drying?
2. Who developed the first known theory of color?
3. What does the term “Tertiary Color” mean?
4. What famous artist wrote, “All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites” and what was the meaning?
5. What are “Achromatic” colors?
6. What acclaimed artist made this statement: “Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
7. Which color is the brightest color of the visible spectrum and is the most noticeable of all colors by the human eye?
8. Which leading artist is known for saying “I found I could say things with colors that I could not say in any other way, things for which I had no words”?
9. What is the name of the short-lived style of art in which artists used a heightened sense of color to express a strong emotional response to nature?
10. Which movement emerged in the 1940’s-1950’s that placed a new emphasis on color as a means of expression?
11. Which leading artist is known to have stated “Color is my day long obsession, joy and torment” and what did the artist mean by the statement?
12. What artists and their illnesses have been linked to the toxic heavy metals, like cadmiums, found in the paints artists used to enhance the brightness of their colors?
13. What famous artist was the co-founder of the “Orphism” art movement known for its use of strong colors and geometric shapes?
14. Which acclaimed artist is known for creating the series titled “Blue Nudes”?
15. What were the two shades of green that Vincent van Gogh used most frequently?
16. What famous artist is known to have meditated using a purple-colored light?
17. What color does the Alzheimer’s Association use to bring attention to Alzheimer’s Disease and Brain Awareness month?
18. What colors did Kandinsky say were the first ones that made a strong impression on him when he was three years old?
19. What exactly is “Chromotherapy”?
20. What setting do you need to set to get the best color displayed on your LCD monitor?
21. What company is the global authority on color and annually announces the “Color of the Year”?
Answers to the Questions About Color
1. Rembrandt. His palette was limited and consisted of ochres, siennas, and umbers.
2. Aristotle. He believed color was sent by God from heaven through celestial rays of light. He suggested that all colors came from white and black and related them to the four elements – water, air, earth, and fire. Surprisingly his beliefs on color were widely held for over 2,000 years until replaced by those of Newton.
3. A tertiary color is the combination of a primary color with a secondary color, for example when you mix the primary blue with the secondary color violet, you create blue-violet.
4. Marc Chagall. The “Friends” he referred to are the analogous colors. The “Lovers” are complementary colors.
5. Achromatic colors are the colors that contain all wavelengths in equal amounts such as white, black, and gray. Achromatic colors are considered to be shaded or tinted.
6. Wassily Kandinsky. He also wrote “Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet.”
7. Yellow. This color is also known to stimulate the left side of the brain, which promotes logical thinking. That’s why it is a good choice for a room used for studying. J.M.W. Turner and Claude Monet both had a passion for using the color yellow. However, in large does this color can cause feelings of malaise and melancholy.
8. Georgia O’Keeffe. She also said, “There’s something about black. You feel hidden away in it.”
9. Fauvism, a movement co-founded by French artists André Derain and Henri Matisse. The artists used a saturated vivid color palette to express emotions in experimental and bold ways. Their innovative style paved the way for twentieth-century art.
10. The style of abstract painting emerged is known as “Color Field” painting. It is characterized primarily by pouring, staining, spraying, or painting large fields of flat solid thinned paint onto raw canvas to create vast chromatic expanses.
11. Claude Monet. He was probably referring to his compulsive practice of repeatedly painting the same subject at different times of day and in different weather conditions. His series of haystack paintings is one example of many.
12. Rubens, Renoir and Dufy suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. Paul Klee was plagued by scleroderma. Both of these illnesses are linked toxic heavy metals, like cadmiums. (Read Are Your Art Materials Making You Sick?)
13. Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979). She was also the first woman artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre in 1964.
14. The “Blue Nudes” is a series of color lithographs by Henri Matisse made from cut-outs depicting nude figures in various positions.
15. The two shades of green that Vincent van Gogh used most frequently were Viridian, known in France as vert émeraude, and true emerald green, known as vert véronése. He often combined the two colors.
16. Leonardo da Vinci. The purple color, often referred to as indigo, is associated with the Third Eye chakra and relates to the forehead, above between the eyes. It is therefore a good color to use for meditation. (Read “Nurture Your Inner Artist”)
17. In June the Alzheimer’s Association asks us to wear and display the color purple to bring attention to Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness month.
18. Kandinsky said, “The first colors that made a strong impression on me were bright juicy green, white, carmine red, black and yellow ochre. These memories go back to the third year of my life.”
19.Several ancient cultures, including the Egyptians and Chinese, practiced chromotherapy — using colors to heal. Chromotherapy is sometimes referred to as light therapy or colourology and is still used today as a holistic or alternative treatment.
20. To get the best color displayed on your LCD monitor, make sure to set it to 32-bit color. This measurement refers to color depth, which is the number of color values that can be assigned to a single pixel in an image. Color depth can range from 1 bit (black-and-white) to 32 bits (over 16.7 million colors).
21. Pantone is the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries. Every year, the Pantone Color Institute uses color theory to interpret trends — looking at fashion, design and “socio-economic conditions” for inspiration. Read Pantone Color Institute Has Announced Its Choice of “Peach Fuzz” for 2024
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Thank you so much for taking the time, energy and effort for sharing this excersize with us Renee. You are appreciated more than you know. A Fine teacher and mentor you are. Bravo to you. Robert Anthony Montesino
So much great information.
Thank you.
You’re welcome Dee! I’m happy to know you like the article. It was such a joy to write about color.
thank you for making this helpful platform.as an artist it is good to know the possiblities of color to express his emotion.