Bauhaus · 1967
Homage to the Square: New Light
Still in copyright: the image isn't shown, only the colors measured from it.
Homage to the Square: New Light (1967) by Josef Albers. Its palette is led by dark muted azure teal (#225761, 61%) and muted azure teal (#337875, 20%), with accents of ivory. Overall the canvas is mid-toned, vivid and cool.
Color note
Albers spent decades showing that a color changes with its neighbours; his book Interaction of Color (1963) is still taught in art schools. The Homage to the Square series, begun in 1950, nests three or four squares of flat color to test exactly that.
Palette
- #225761 MG 084 dark muted azure teal 61.2% of canvas
- #337875 MG 082 muted azure teal 19.8% of canvas
- #4a9d77 MG 065 lime green 16.0% of canvas
- #f8f4e6 MG 200 ivory 2.5% of canvas
- #dde2db MG 206 silver 0.5% of canvas
Color families
Blue 79%, Green 16%, White 3%, Gray 3%
Measurements
Composition
51% of the visual weight is in the left half, 61% in the lower half. Symmetry 0.96 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 100% of the canvas is calm space. There is almost no detail anywhere. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.