Critical analysis of color application - Essay Example

This paper will examine the emotional effects this painting could invoke in its viewer, examine its color palette in terms of theory and cross-cultural meaning, and the color symbolism that Picasso may have been attempting to elicit. Pablo Picasso would have been very aware of the properties of color and emotion, having gone through a period in his art known as the “blue period,” where hardly any warm colors were used at all (Ravin, J. G., & Perkins, J. 2004). In his Blue Period, Picasso used blues to create a sad mood (Ravin, J. G., & Perkins, J. 2004). This is a common color-emotional association with blue, especially in English countries where a phrase “to feel blue” means to feel depressed or sad.

This, however, was very likely not the intended emotional response for Jeune Fille Endormie. While blues greens and purples take a central role in the painting, both physically (as they inhabit the centre of the painting), and metaphorically as the first thing that catches the eye, it is balanced by a great deal of warm coloration, from the yellow of the arm to the burnt orange background. These colors, especially yellow, often denote energy, and can be associated with nature (Gao et. al. 2007).

Blue is often also a color associated with calmness and nature, being the color of the sky and large bodies of water (Gombrich 1977). Picasso balances this natural color use with purple, a color less-often associated with nature (Hemphill 1996). Through this lens, the primary effect of this painting is probably not one of melancholy, but perhaps relaxation. The blues, greens and purples keep the overall energy of the painting low, while the yellow, red and orange keep this low energy state from being mistaken for sadness.

This is a painting that elicits relaxation as a primary emotional response. The color categories used in this painting are very tightly bound, and consequently there is a chance that