Why we feel what we feel about colour

We're asking how we feel about colour – or more accurately how colours make us feel – and whether that's the same for all of us.

Join colour specialist Zeynep Sagir and National Gallery host Beks Leary to get emotional about colour. Along the way, we talk about Pablo Picasso’s ‘Blue Period’ and Derek Jarman’s final film ‘Blue’, the calming green of John Constable’s ‘The Cornfield’, and Mark Rothko’s colour field abstractions. And we’ll see just how cultural our perception of colour really is.

Zeynep is an artist, colour consultant, and founder of The Colour Club. She holds a Master’s degree from Central Saint Martins and spent two years researching colour psychology. Since graduating, she has gone on to become a certified colour consultant and colour therapist. Through The Colour Club, Zeynep runs workshops, hosts events, and offers consultancy, as well as publishing articles and interviews.

Find out more about The Colour Club on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecolourclub/

-----

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CN0KgUJtjJA

You can email us with any questions via [email protected]

Find out more about the podcast on our website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast

-----

To take our short survey about the podcast please visit: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast

-----

Paintings mentioned:

John Constable, ‘The Cornfield’, 1826. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/john-constable-the-cornfield

Derek Jarman, ‘Blue’, 1993. Tate https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/jarman-blue-t14555

Vincent van Gogh, ‘Van Gogh’s Chair’, 1888. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-van-gogh-s-chair

Vincent van Gogh, ‘Gauguin's Chair’, 1888. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0048V1962

Further reading:

Find out more about The Colour Club here: https://www.thecolourclub.co.uk/

Josef Albers, Interaction of Color, 1963

To find out more about research conducted during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens on how ‘Red enhances human performance in contests’ see: https://www.nature.com/articles/435293a

Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, [1911]

Read the full letter from Vincent van Gogh to his brother Theo, dated on or about Wednesday, 28 October 1885: https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let537/letter.html

Discover more about Vincent van Gogh’s letters: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/stories/all-stories/van-goghs-letters

Find out more about colour field painting and abstract expressionist artists, such as Mark Rothko, here: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/colour-field-painting

-----

Episode Credits

Guest: Zeynep Sagir

Host and executive producer: Beks Leary

Producer: Harry Rosehill

Researcher: Hannah Rogers

Technicians: Ian Warren and Timothy Carpenter

Editor: Jeanne Kenyon and Paul Frankl

Theme music: Theo Elwell