All posts by Rosie Lesso

Crisp, clear and direct, the bold colour of ROYAL BLUE has fascinated artists for centuries. Artists have become obsessive about this shade of blue, returning to it again and again for its ability to add dramatic tension and theatrical impact to their art. Those who have fallen for this colour’s spell have realised this shade…

ARCTIC linen’s dark turquoise is loaded with associations, from the azure blue of a sunlit sky to the slippery surface of still, frozen water. Artists throughout the centuries have embraced this sharp, icy colour for its ability to bring passages of crisp cold freshness into their art. But there is also a deeper, emotive potential…

PURPLE HEART is as fresh and bright as a bloom of flowers, and its eye-catching hue can completely transform the colours around it. The shade’s vivid, eye-popping brightness has made it a particular favourite among many modern and contemporary artists, who enjoy exploring how it can create an immediately arresting visual effect. Today we will…

With its dark, warm and inviting shade of red, AUBURN is a firm favourite among artists old and new. Perhaps this is because it is a curious, chameleonic colour that can shift and change, depending on the shades and hues around it. Auburn is earthy in amongst vivid, bright hues, while black and dark blue…

Fresh, cool air seems to radiate through French painter Robert Delaunay’s art, conveyed with luminous pastel shades like FRENCH LILAC. A Parisian through and through, Delaunay dedicated much of his life to painting the city of lights as it transformed into an urban mecca before his eyes, shifting from a small city to into a…

French painter Pierre Soulages made a career out of painting with shades of black like ANTHRACITE, sweeping it in broad, confident gestures across paper and canvas. His stark, minimal designs nod towards the simple confidence of cave paintings and Japanese calligraphy, with loose marks crisscrossing over one another to create the sensations of depth, space…

Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell brought swirling tornadoes of colour into her art, and BLUE APATITE was one of her favourites. She loved how this rich teal blue could energise her paintings with the colour of electricity, twirling this way and that in dynamized ribbons, or pooling into watery patches of translucency. Though her densely patterned…

Colour was a driving force in the Surrealist art of Joan Miro, pulsing through his images with a passionate and rhythmic energy. He played with all the colours of the rainbow throughout his long and prolific career, exploring how curious and unexpected relationships could be discovered between them. The fresh, cool and minty shade of…

Soft, delicate pinks like BLUSH linen are a recurring feature in Cecily Browns rich, expressionistic paintings, conveying nude flesh, spring blossoms in the sunlight, or freshly fallen snow, painted with the fluttering decadence of the Baroque era once led by Jean-Honore Fragonard. A leading New York artist since the early aughts, Brown has been painting…