Color Temperature in Painting

COLOR TEMPERATURE: This was an idea that was developed by the French Impressionists through careful observation of light on objects during different times of the day. On overcast days the light is cool. In afternoon and evening sunsets the light is warm. The Impressionists observed that the shadows also reacted to the color of the light or color temperature.

WARM LIGHT, COOL SHADOW: So, in the late afternoons or indoor incandescent lighting, the predominant light is warm (yellow, orange, red), making the light side of an object warm and the colors of the light side of the object would be a combination of the surface color mixed with the warm light. The optical effect on the shadows is a shift towards the complementary color of the light. So a warm light will shift the shadows cool, and the shadows would be a combination of the surface color mixed with the cool shade.

COOL LIGHT, WARM SHADOW: So, on overcast days or indoor fluorescent lighting, the predominant light is cool (purple, blue, green). Switch warm and cool in the previous paragraph, and you have the idea.

EXAGGERATION FOR EFFECT: The Impressionists had another trick up their sleeves. They could see the brilliance of the bright sun, but by just mimicking the colors they observed, they could not replicate the sensation of the searing brightness of the strong sunlight. To replicate this effect, they exaggerated the color temperature in the painting and the contrast in both value and saturation between the light and shadows in the objects they were painting. The chromatic contrast, between the light and shadow, optically replicated the heat of the light. For overcast days, when the light was more dispersed, they brought the values closer together and muted the colors to let subtle juxtaposition of compliments to vibrate, replicate softer light.

EXAMPLES: I’ve included some examples of my portraits that best illustrate color temperature. Some of the examples have cool lighting and others have warm lighting. I will leave it to you to see which is which.