Love at first sight…that was the feeling I had the moment I walked into the New Orleans Museum of Art over 30 years ago and the images of Monet’s Nympheas became ingrained in my memory. Then a few years back I was fortunate enough to visit The National Gallery in London, England, and the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. As I stood in the midst of masterpieces by Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, and Seurat, and studied the brushwork of van Gogh and Monet, I fell in love again with color.

Although artistry dates back to ancient civilization cave drawings, it wasn’t until the 1840’s that paints became readily available to artists. The invention of commercialization of tube paints led to the Impressionist boom (Claude Monet) followed by the post-impressionist period (Van Gogh). It was through these artistic experimentation periods in the late 19th century that color became widely accepted by society. Thank goodness! Don’t get me wrong, I admire the Ruben, Bellini and Raphael masterpieces, but I find the dark oils somewhat depressing.

According to the London Image Institute, color is a form of nonverbal communication, effects mood and emotions, and has led to a new industry called “color psychology”, a study devoted to understanding the impacts of color. In many ways color psychology is common sense; red signifies love and strength, green represents nature, and purple implies royalty. However, color psychology goes deeper in understanding the positive as well as negative connotations of color in marketing, subliminal messaging, and relationships.

I find that color is my way to happiness, and this influenced THE LANGUAGE OF COLOR exhibit now available to the public at the Old Post Office Museum in Winnsboro, Louisiana.

Summer Exhibit: The Language of Color

Old Post Office Museum. 513 Prairie Street. Winnsboro. Louisiana.

9PM-5PM  *  Monday-Friday

~ Exhibit through July 31, 2022 ~

Photo: Traci and Robert Canterbury at the artist reception at the Old Post Office Museum in Winnsboro, Louisiana

Visit TraciCanterbury.Com for more findingJOY inspiration.

Find me on:

Facebook at TraciCanterburyFindingJoy

Instagram @TraciCanterburyFindingJoy

Pinterest at TraciCanterburyFindingJoy