Laura Molloy explores the psychology of colour, its background, and where colours receive their meaning from.
According to Kendra Cherry, a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, and psychology educator, “colour psychology is the study of how different colours affect human mood and behavior. It explores how colours can influence emotional responses, as well as how responses to colour are affected by factors such as age and cultural background”.
While there is no definitive list of the meanings of different colours, certain associations have been commonly made and are often accepted as having a specific meaning. For example, red is often associated with passion, excitement, love, and anger, while other colours such as pink tend to be associated with softness, and girliness.
Purple is the colour of nobility, and often implies mystery. Blue is a colour that tends to hold contradictory meanings. For some, blue represents hope and peace, but it is also often associated with sadness. This is where the expression “feeling blue” comes from. There is less debate over the meaning of green. It tends to be collectively accepted as representing nature, freshness, and growth.
There tends to be some overlap between the symbolic meanings of yellow and orange. These colours are both often linked to hope, joy, kindness, and warmth. These meanings stem from associations people have formed around both fire and the sun.
In contrast, the colour black is often regarded as the colour of death due to the tradition of wearing black when mourning the passing of someone. It also symbolises a lack of light. The colour black also has overlap with the colour purple as have similar symbolic aspects.
White is another that varies in its symbolic meanings. It has strong roots throughout history in its symbolism surrounding purity. Similar to orange and yellow, white can also imply a sense of hope. It is a symbol for light in contrast to black. The colour white is also often seen as the colour of peace.
Colour also has a history of evoking and communicating specific emotions to people. As a result, colour choice is a big decision factor in all art forms, whether it’s film, design or other visually creative media. When it comes to colour association, a study conducted by Jonauskaite et al. in 2020 surveyed the emotional associations of 4,598 people from 30 different countries.
51% of people associated black with sadness. 43% associated white with relief. 68% associated red with love. 35% linked blue to relief. 39% linked green to feelings of contentment. 52% of respondents associated yellow with joy. 25% connected purple to pleasure. 36% linked brown to feelings of disgust. 44% associated orange with joy. 50% of respondents connected pink to love.
The data was collected from a single study that surveyed only one group, so if you ask others what they associate different colours with, their answers will likely differentiate from your own. However, the study does demonstrate a degree of universality between colour associations and meanings, but there are also big differences in how we view them.
The associations we form tend to originate from our personal experiences. If you mention a specific colour, one person might think of their childhood pet, while another might think of a place they traveled to. For some, orange can symbolise warmth, while others will think of the fruit they can’t stand. There is no one objective meaning of each colour.
Many artists have made use of colour to evoke different emotions and messages in their work. Vincent Van Gogh is perhaps one of the most famous examples. His sunflower paintings in particular showcase his understanding of yellow's emotional impact. He once wrote to his brother Theo, saying, "there is no blue without yellow and without orange," recognising the psychological power of these colour relationships.
Van Gogh has also been known for his strategic placement of blue and orange or purple and yellow elements. By understanding the colour relationships,Van Gogh produced aching emotions expressed through colour in his starry nights and sunflower studies. This results in a visual tension that elicits an emotional response from the viewer.
Colour is definitely a useful tool for artists, but it is important to remember that no two individuals will engage with it in the same way. Colour is deeply personal, and associations are usually formed from personal anecdotes.