Bauhaus · 1925

Yellow-Red-Blue

Wassily Kandinsky 1866–1944

Yellow-Red-Blue (1925) by Wassily Kandinsky. Its palette is led by bone (#cbcab3, 36%) and light grey (#afb2ba, 12%), with accents of indigo blue, charcoal, scarlet red and amber. Overall the canvas is light, moderately saturated and warm.

Color note

Kandinsky tied colors to sounds and emotions: in Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1911) he likens yellow to a blaring trumpet and deep blue to a pull toward the spiritual. He later taught color and form at the Bauhaus.

Palette

#cbcab3 MG 171 bone 35.8% of canvas
#4f5d9f MG 104 indigo blue 13.9% of canvas
#afb2ba MG 213 light grey 11.7% of canvas
#9999ab MG 208 pigeon grey 11.6% of canvas
#e0d178 MG 042 pale yellow 11.0% of canvas
#23242a MG 222 charcoal 7.5% of canvas
#b84251 MG 019 scarlet red 4.7% of canvas
#b87c13 MG 034 amber 3.8% of canvas

Color families

Gray 22%, Brown 22%, Blue 15%, Yellow 14%, White 11%

Measurements

Lightness: 0.70
Contrast: 0.54
Vividness: 0.056
Warmth: +0.43
Complexity: 250 cells
Hue range: 0.74
Focus: 0.12

Composition

59% of the visual weight is in the right half, 56% in the upper half. Symmetry 0.25 (how closely its shapes and edges mirror each other). 9% of the canvas is calm space. Half of the detail sits in 31% of the canvas. Measured from the image, not a rule the painter followed.

Details

Date: 1925
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 128.0 × 201.5 cm
Genre: abstract art
Collection: Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

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