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Colour In Art: From Giotto to Van Gogh
One-day course
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Join us at V&A South Kensington for a day where we discover how colour has a vital part to play in our understanding and enjoyment of painting and sculpture.
The study day will explore which pigments were used from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, where they came from and how artists made them. Colour is vital in the understanding of a composition, the subject and meaning of a painting or sculpture, whether used in fresco, tempera, oil, pastel, or watercolour. Colours, such as red and green or blue and yellow, can be symbolic or can identify figures such as Mary Magdalene or St. Peter, to clarify a religious narrative which the viewer may not have been able to read.
The study day will explore which pigments were used from the Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century, where they came from and how artists made them. Colour is vital in the understanding of a composition, the subject and meaning of a painting or sculpture, whether used in fresco, tempera, oil, pastel, or watercolour. Colours, such as red and green or blue and yellow, can be symbolic or can identify figures such as Mary Magdalene or St. Peter, to clarify a religious narrative which the viewer may not have been able to read.
V&A Academy Lecturer
Clare Ford-Wille
Clare Ford-Wille is an independent lecturer. Previously associate lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London she also lectures regularly for many other institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wallace Collection, the National Trust, and the NACF as well as leading groups to places of art historical in Europe.
Thank you. Really enjoyable and full of fresh insights. Previous V&A Academy student
Course overview
This study day will explore how careful placing of subtle and varying colours in brushstrokes, when seen from the correct distance, can appear as gold tassels, silver embroidery or facial expression in the work of artists such as Raphael, Velazquez, or Rembrandt. We will discover how, by the 18th century, with the advancement in chemistry, botany and minerology, new colours began to be discovered, such as Prussian Blue or Mauve. Artists, such as Monet and his contemporaries, continued to experiment with techniques and their use of colour in what is known as ‘impressionism’. Colour was used to create shock, drama and excitement, as in the work of Van Gogh or the Fauves, such as Matisse at the end of the 19th century.
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One-day course: Colour In Art: From Giotto to Van Gogh
1 October 2024
£100.00
Need help enrolling? Talk to the admissions team:
+44 (0)20 7942 2000
Open 10.00 - 13.00, Monday to Sunday (closed 24-26 December)
Header image: Altarpiece with 45 scenes of the Apocalypse, Master Bertram (maker), ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London