Art is ALL the colors of the rainbow!

In the world of art, there has always been the ability to explore, to create, and to think differently.  This ability for freedom of expression has allowed artists throughout history to experiment with everything from subject matter and materials, to scale and design. This freedom of expression has also been reflected through an artist's choice of colors used for their artwork.  Color has often played an important role in the mood or feeling portrayed in an artwork--from bright and fun, to somber or serene. So, in celebration of the colorful world of art, and since June is Pride Month, this month's post will feature all of the beautiful colors of the rainbow. Below, you can see 7 famous artworks, with each one focusing primarily on just one of the colors of the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, or violet. The artworks chosen here are some very famous pieces by well-known artists. If you'd like, you can learn more about the individual artist by clicking on their name below each painting. The arts have always shown us that it is great to be unique, to be an individual, and to live in our own authentic way.  They have also shown us how wonderful it is that we don’t all have to be like someone else, think like someone else, or believe in all the same things as someone else.  And, as you can see from looking at the 7 paintings shown here, the arts even show us that we don’t even have to use the same colors either!  What a bland and boring world we would all live in if it all looked exactly the same.  Thankfully, it does not. So let's try to always celebrate these differences, and go live your own colorful life!

Red The Dessert: Harmony in Red, Henri Matisse, 1908

Orange Orange, Red, Yellow, Mark Rothko, 1961

Yellow Signs in Yellow, Paul Klee, 1937

Green The Equatorial Jungle, Henri Rousseau, 1909

Blue The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh, 1889

Indigo Blue Water Lilies, Claude Monet, 1916-19

Violet Petunia, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1925

If you would like to see some more artistic examples using color, you can click on the interactive link The Art of Color Gallery by Google Arts & Culture, and explore their online virtual museum!