Coral Skies

Colours of Fine Arts

By Sonal Raje

I paint big to be intimate.

Mark Rothko—abstract expressionist

We all experience the association of colour with emotions when one with nature. Our mood and energy vary under white clouds floating in clear blue skies versus a canopy of dark clouds looming in a gray sky. The water bodies reflect the colour of sky and the journey of the sun over the course of the day. Rays of sunlight dance on the ripples, bathing the water in light.

The soft glow heralding the dawn turns to blinding flashes in the afternoon, gradually softening into a mesmerizing dance of warmth at sunset, before being enveloped in darkness under the blanket of the night.

Similarly, our emotions run the gamut of innocent hope in the morning, energetic enthusiasm in the afternoon, followed by the mood in the evening night, as the day ends in either grateful acceptance or disappointment and turmoil under the coral skies. This association of colour with emotions is stored in our minds and is brought back by the expressive power of art. A subtle wash of colour in the background or bold accents in the foreground define the intensity and urgency of memories.

The experience of walking into an art gallery—to be confronted by an expanse or layers of colour on large scale canvases expanding across entire walls is—impossible to describe in words.

Mark Rothko, famed for his colour field paintings, said in an interview, “The fact that a lot of people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions. The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.”

Here are some images of Rothko’s colour field paintings, using coral in juxtaposition with similar and contrasting colours.

These reactions can only be explained by the psychological properties of colour. Coral is one colour that is hard to define. Vulnerable, sensual, and sensitive. Expansive in a way that fills a heart or breaks it with its emotional energy. If all our memories were rooted in association to a particular colour, coral could encompass most, if not all, emotions. Take equal parts of the passion of red and orange, add in brilliance of yellow, and stir in the unconditional love of pink. There is your recipe of a colour that represents the energy of connection, expression, and expansion.

Here are some images of Rothko’s colour field paintings, using coral in juxtaposition with colours that are at times similar in hue, or in contrast. The proximity of colours is similar to feeling different emotions at the same time. Notice how the edges and corners are not sharp, but soft and blurred, making the shapes appear to be floating. Every shape varies in its size and position. Beneath each, we see the details of a moment in time—ingrained in memory, by association to an emotion.

Now do you see how an artist can use swatches of colour in a way that triggers an emotional response? That is abstract expressionism in its mature form. And the power of colour at its most sublime. The link between connection, expression, and expansion. The moment art and life are one.