A Splash of Color on Canvas

Various different styles of painting and various art movements have focused on the use of colors in different lightings, contrasts, and intensities. The best artists have managed to mesmerize their viewers with arrays of brilliant and shining colors to draw attention to their artworks.

European Artists

Yellow Red Blue Wassily Kandinsky

Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky was among the most prolific modern artists of the Abstract art era. His artworks featured some of the highest levels of contrasting colors and shapes. The artist created this painting in 1925 with an interesting combination of primary colors and most basi geometric shapes. The painting was created on a massive canvas.

Castle and Sun Paul Klee

German artist Paul Klee created this masterpiece in 1928. It features an wide array of shapes in bright, bold colors. The painting takes a distinctive approach to modern abstract art that was popular in the 2oth century. The shining sun on canvas seems to illuminated the castle and the sky above with intense colorations. Klee was known to create artworks in his own special style of Cubism.

Mendrisiotto with Church of Obino Hermann Scherer

Swiss Expressionist artist and sculptor Hermann Scherer created this artwork in 1926 at the height of the modern Expressionist era. It highlights the contrasting colors of the buildings surrounding the church.

Medicine & Hygeia Gustav Klimt

Austrian Symbolist artist and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement Gustav Klimt created this artwork in 1901. It features a wide range o f colors and lovely contrasts. The painting depicts Hygeira, the mythical daughter of the god of medicine who appears to hold the ability to heal in her hands. This artwork remains as one of the most famous artworks created by Klimt and is among the most famous colorful paintings of all time.

Flint Castle J.M.W Turner

English Romantic artist and watercolorist J.M.W. Turner was known for his maritime artworks. He created this watercolor painting in 1838 and it includes one of the most striking depictions of the sun and its contrast with the water and other elements along the shoreline.

American Artists

White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) Mark Rothko

American abstract artist Mark Rothko's artwork White Center is considered to be among the most famous paintings focusing on colors. In the painting Rothko combines multiple blocks to form a layered images bordered by a faint reddish hue around the edge of the canvas. The colors used appear to compliment one another.

Grey Blue & Black – Pink Circle Georgia O’Keeffe

American artist Georgia O'Keeffe was known for capturing the beauty of the American southwest. She created this artwork in 1929 incorporating the distinctive pastel coloration of the desert in the southwest as the sun plays across the many hues that are layered along the canyons in that region.

Roseate Spoonbill John James Audubon (Pictured above)

French-American artist, naturalist, and ornithologist John James Audubon was known for his wildlife drawings. He was impressed with the birdlife in southern Florida. This region is known for its tropical nature and features vast arrays of birds, fish, and other animals. He completed this artwork in 1836 creating the colorful beauty of one of the most intriguing birds in the region the Roseate Spoonbill.

Lumber Schooners at Evening on Penobscot Bay Fitz Henry Lane

American artist and printmaker Fitz Henry Lane created this artwork in 1863. It depicts schooners in the evening on Penobscot Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. He wonderfully replicated the natural beauty of the sunset where the Penobscot Bay meets with the Atlantic Ocean. The artist managed to capture the last bit of sunlight just as it faded down into the space where the horizon and the sea meet.