How is color used in art?

Answer 1

Color in art can sever several purposes. Outside of accurately portraying something such as painting a red apple... well... red; color depending on culture and generally accepted psychology, can convey emotional and intellectual information.

In most cultures for example Red can convey danger, heat, and passion.

In general colors are usually grouped:

Cool Colors,Warm Colors,Neutral Colors,Earth Tones,Citrus,Pastels, Vibrant, Muted, etc.

Colors along with Shades can be a critical part of a composition. Various studies and artists have, for example, taken pictures and colored them differently to portray differing moods. A picture of a woman yawning colored in red may convey a scream where, when colored blue may convey crying simply by differing colors.

In conventional media the colors Red, Black, and White (While technically Black and White are often considered Shades when working with certain mediums) are considered the strongest informative, or information, colors. Sometimes blue is in that list but as most things in art, these lists are subjective at best.

Yellow is often considered an Alert color and as any Star Trek fan can tell you, yellow alert is usually going to turn into red alert sooner then later.

Depending on culture Green and Blue are often informational colors marking non-critical information, road signs, bathrooms, etc.

While outside of the scope of this question the field of color theory and composition has extensive rules and language to help with working with colors. (Complimentary, Contrast, Hue, Saturation, Luminosity, Opaque, etc)