Artists use colors to create a variety of desired effects. When an artist paints a scene or objects realistically,
colors are used in imitation of the things being painted.
Kay Kurt
Weingummi II 1973
oil on canvas
Walker Art Center
Purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Butler Family Foundation
The dust and moisture in the atmosphere make the color of an object appear duller and less intense the further away
it is from the viewer.
Camille Pissarro
Place du Théâtre Français, Paris: Rain 1898
Oil on canvas
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
The building in the center of this painting appears farther away than those to the left and right in part because
the artists has grayed the colors.
Camille Pissarro
Detail of Place du Théâtre Français, Paris: Rain 1898
Oil on canvas
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The William Hood Dunwoody Fund
This fiber artist created the look of a small village seen through the clouds. She chose dyes that made delicate, pale
colors, the equivalent of tints (colors made less intense by the addition of white). In this way, she used the same knowledge that a
painter would use to mix colors that make the village seem far below.
Helena Hernmarck
The Glimpse 1974
Wool and linen; weft-faced with discontinuous weft patterning
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Adele Roller Fund and gift of Mr. and Mrs. Myron T. Kerr, Jr.
