PINK

I'd like to thank all of my readers for your kind patience with this update!

This post introduces a new series on my blog, in which I will focus on specific colors and their use in art.  The first color in this series is pink - a color with almost universally positive symbolic connotations.  Pink is the passion of red tempered with the purity of white.  We consider it a feminine color, although in some cultures like Japan and India, pink has no such gender specificity.  Pink was not known or used as a color in art in China until after their contact with Western culture - and pink is still considered a 'foreign' color there.  Pink can be both soothing and exciting, and I hope you will enjoy the outstanding examples below of the use of this beautiful color!

In the 50's, Andy Warhol (an avowed cat lover) made 25 delightful watercolor lithographs of cats, in different poses and colors.  These were based on photographs by Walter Chandoha, a cat photographer in New York.  Here is his pink version, Untitled, but sometimes called Pink Sam.

Untitled (c. 1954), Andy Warhol

Georgia O'Keeffe frequent use of pink in her evocative flower paintings seems to tap into our subconscious (if not organic) association with this color with the Divine Feminine.  O'Keeffe was very skilled at using every nuance of a color in her palette.  Here she takes pink from hot and vivid on the petal edges to nearly white further down.  When viewing her paintings and pastels in a gallery, your eye fully appreciates the incredible opalescence of her colors.

Pink Sweet Peas (1927), Georgia O'Keeffe

Most of us are very familiar with Degas' wonderful Impressionist paintings of dancers and students of the Paris Opera in 19th century Paris.  I love that he chose not to romanticize these girls, but to portray them in poses that were real and beyond idealistic.  It's as though you're there and witnessing a sudden, unplanned moment.  In all of his art, Degas was obsessed with the positioning of the figure, and he used atmospheric color to great effect (although he himself did not identify himself as an Impressionist).  I love the pink tulle costumes here, which almost seem to float, and the contrast of the pink flowers with the girls' dark hair.

Ballerina in Pink (1885), Edgar Degas

One of my favorite Picasso's, this painting portrays his young mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, gazing into a mirror.  The pink firmness of her skin, the brightness of her eyes, the smooth fairness of her hair, all convey her fresh youthfulness.  Her reflection (perhaps her self-image?  her own future?  another aspect of her personality?) gazes back at her in deeper, somehow more experienced, tones.  I feel that this painting displays Picasso's deep understanding of and artistic sensitivity to women.  I like how the two figures almost seem to be embracing.  Picasso's use of pink here helps tell the story.

Girl Before a Mirror (1932), Pablo Picasso

Oh my dear Matisse, you are an artist who's presence I strongly sense when I look at your paintings!  His passion for color is evident in all of his Fauvist works, but Matisse also loved quirky structure.  The somewhat disorienting tilt of the table makes the apples seem to defy gravity.  This was done all to force us to focus on Matisse's primary passions:  shape and color.  Who cares about reality or proper perspective?  Look at the gorgeous shades of pink in the cloth and the tactile yellow of the fruit!

Still Life with Apples on a Pink Tablecloth (1924), Henri Matisse

Throughout most of his creative life, James McNeil Whistler was enamored of Japanese prints, porcelain, costume and aesthetics and this is evident in his beautiful, shimmering 'symphony' of ladies on a beach.  The pink sand and sky against the blue water are like something from a dream, with the wind-blown figures punctuated in the scene by their clothing and accessories.  I love that the use of pink here is so ethereal.  At the time Whistler made this picture, I'm not sure anyone except his pre-Raphaelite friends appreciated it's genius.

Symphony in Blue and Pink (1868), James McNeil Whistler

Pink is not just for girls!   Moroni, an Italian Mannerist, very successfully portrays his attractive and masculine subject in a very naturalistic way, while including various symbols around him.  This is Gian Girolamo Grumelli, a statesman and nobleman, who must have been a very impressive young man indeed - he was named a Knight of the Golden Spur at age 10.  I can only assume that coral-pink was a very stylish color for wealthy men to wear at this time...head to toe!

The Gentleman in Pink (1560), Giovanni Battista Moroni

The very prolific French Academic artist William Bouguereau painted this picture at age 77, three years before his death, and follows his favorite life-long theme of classical figures.  Here Bouguereau wants us to appreciate not only the solemn pose of the young priestess, but also his mastery of line, form and color.  The pink of her draping helps us to understand the girl's youth and innocence, but also that the artist loved working with this color and wants us to love it too.

Young Priestess (1902), William Adolphe Bouguereau

One of the things I love about this little painting of the Madonna by Raphael is his choice of clothing the Virgin in a shade of pink that is almost red.  This tells me that the joy of Mary's motherhood will soon end.  Pink is also an important thematic color here, as John the Baptist is handing Jesus a pink, a flower symbolic of Mary's tears.

The Garvagh Madonna, Raphael, 1510

This beautiful little watercolor was made by an artist in the Punjab Hills of India.  A girl, finishing her bath, wrings water from her hair.  She looks up to see a tiny golden bird perched on top of the tree.  I like the way her bluish-pink skirt contrasts so perfectly with the salmon-orange sky in this lovely, intimate scene.  Diana Vreeland once said, "Pink is the navy blue of India".  It is an indispensable color in Indian life and art.

At Her Bath (c.1700), Indian, Pahari

The great Russian-French artist and designer ERTE personified pink in this lithograph:  joy, movement, energy, femininity, innocence, sensuality, nature. 

Pink Lady (c. 1980), ERTE