Colour Psychology in Art: How Colour Impacts Mood

Abstract

This paper uses a qualitative approach in examining the role and potential uses of colour psychology in arts practitioners and art students, looking specifically at the effects of colour on how subjects understand and process complex psycho-emotional phenomena. So, this paper is focused on ways artists use colour to deal with emotion, how this effect cognitively operates, and may have second-order effects on arts spectators. Colour psychology is initially considered from a clinical research perspective, vis-a-vis its utility, via art therapy, as a psychological curative. Next, the transposition from art therapeutic contexts to art production is examined: how psychological and cognitive processes potentially benefit students and artists alike, in related though distinct ways regarding metacognition and behavioural self-regulation. Finally, this study examines the work of four artistic masters, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, and Wassily Kandinsky, analyzing the relationship between mood and mind state (of the artists) and the colours the artists use in their works.