The Emotions of Color

1.     Describe Color and its effects on emotions. Use the appropriate vocabulary of color in your posting.

Color profoundly effects our emotions. Though we may not be aware that different colors can evoke different moods, color actually influences our psychological and even physical sensations. Though the emotional effects of color are not an exact science and each individual responds personally there are existing trends. The “temperature” of a color can have a strong link to the emotion it can produce, for example “cool” colors inducing a calming effect and “hot” colors can indicate fear, anxiety, or despair (think of the reds used in Edvard Munch’s The Scream.)

2.     What is a theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues/fascinates you? Why?

I am certainly most fascinated by the emotional and psychological aspects of color. Our brain is a mysterious and inexplicable control center. I am really interested in how “pink rooms” work in Jails. What about the color pink makes it such a calming color, when some people hate the color pink? Knowing that certain colors can affect the appetite is so intriguing to me because we always associate hunger with the biological need for food. Color playing a much bigger role in our lives than we realize really makes me think harder about the colors I have surrounding me each day.

3.     In the Color video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and its effects on emotions?

I was actually surprised about Van Gogh’s café painting. There is such strong emotion behind it, such anxiety and hatred towards the idea of “the café.” I never considered that the harsh and violent contrasts of his color choices were meant to evoke that feeling, but they do. I’m sure some people might appreciate bold colors or even prefer to surround themselves with them but I myself seem to agree with Van Gogh about them creating a sort of uncomfortable feeling.             
A perfect example, and what I thought of while I was watching this, is my room here in Sweden. I live with a host family so I get what I get but I can see now why I really despise my room here for some reason! The bed is painted a bright green (not ‘lime’ and not ‘john-deer’ but that disgusting place in between) and the blanket is a very bright (and very clashing) blue. These weren’t colors I would pick, but I didn’t consider that they might be the reason I don’t like being in my room. Then today I was shopping at IKEA and was really attracted to this deep purple blanket, normally I would chalk this up to me just “liking” the color purple. But when I stood with the blanket in hand and imagined it in my room a very calming, soothing image of my room appeared in my head. I pictured the green bed painted over, this purple blanket replacing the blue one, some candles lit, some nice throw pillows, and all of a sudden I wanted to be in my room! Returning to reality and the actual state of my room was saddening. The combination of what I learned this week and that little experience in IKEA have turned me into a believer, color really does have an effect on my mood.

The not so lovely colors in my room. 

4.     In the Feelings video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and its effects on emotions? 

I was most intrigued with Goya’s style of painting. He was a revolutionary, but his paintings didn’t only portray political meaning. He had this scary notion of the ‘monstrous consciousness’ that could really freak a viewer out. His dismal colors of dark reds, blacks, and grays animated the ‘within’ of humanity, the ‘real reality’, etc. His paintings actually produce an eerie feeling to me, an uncomfortable and scary truth that lies beneath the surface. He really forces the observer to question the human experience and as much as this bothers me, it fascinates me. Not because I question the darkness of humanity as he did, but because his paintings were so revered and he was hired by wealthy families and people admired his work! I know today anything goes, but it was surprising to me that his dark and dreary colors influenced even the seemingly most “naïve” of viewers. It was almost as if he was mocking the people he painted for, as if he knew how the colors and other aspects of his works would influence them but they had no idea.