An illustrated guide to the history and symbolism of colours, as used in artworks throughout the ages, from prehistory to the present day.

Colour, which has the power to impart meaning or express emotion, has fascinated humans for millennia. This comprehensive, illustrated guide demonstrates how colour - through different periods, cultures, and artistic movements - has been used in art: from the black, red, and white pigments first used in prehistoric cave paintings to Andy Warhol's flashy Gold Marilyn Monroe.

From oil painting to optical art, this international history of colour unfurls over thirty major periods in the development of colour in the arts, elucidating their characteristics, key works, and exponents. The symbolism given to a particular colour and how such associations have evolved over time is revealed. A gallery of sixty works that are remarkable for their extraordinary use of colour includes the explosion of light emanating from Joseph Mallord William Turner's Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) to the colourful intensity in Monet's Impressionism.

Complete with extensive cross-references, this accessible guide allows readers to discover more about a particular movement, theme, or technique, and offers an enlightening and polychromatic overview to the history of colour in art.

Author: Camille Viéville
Paperback
224 pages
21 x 14.8 cm