Colors carry meanings, but those meanings come from culture and history, not from nature. The same color can mean joy in one place and grief in another.
| Color | One meaning | A different meaning |
|---|---|---|
| White | weddings in many Western countries, a custom made popular when Queen Victoria wore white in 1840 | mourning: white has long been worn at funerals in China and Japan |
| Red | good fortune and celebration in China, at weddings and the Lunar New Year | danger or "stop" on signs in many countries |
| Black | mourning in much of Europe and the Americas | elegance in evening clothes |
| Purple | power in ancient Rome, where Tyrian purple dye, made from sea snails, was costly and restricted to emperors and officials | today, an everyday color |
Key idea
Color meanings are learned. They change across cultures, times and contexts, so ask where and when a work was made before reading meaning into its colors.
Why it works
Many meanings grew from practical facts. A rare, costly dye or pigment became a sign of wealth and rank. Ultramarine blue, ground from the stone lapis lazuli and carried to Europe from mines in Afghanistan, cost so much that Renaissance painters often saved it for the most important figure in a picture, frequently the robe of the Virgin Mary.
Worked example: A bride in red
A painting shows a bride in a bright red dress. A viewer says, "That is a mistake; brides wear white." What is wrong with that reasoning?
- The white wedding dress is a custom of some places and times.
- In China, red has long been the color of weddings and good fortune.
- So the red may be exactly right for where the painting was made.
Answer: It assumes one culture's custom is universal.
Common mistake
Thinking a color means the same thing everywhere. Claims like "blue always means sadness" break down across cultures. In analysis, tie a color's meaning to evidence: the culture, the period, the subject, and how the artist uses it in that work.