Image Essay 12: color

For week 12 we were studying the use of color. With the use of color in a composition one can create a dominant structure just be utilizing a color’s symbolic meaning. In Jan Van Eyck’s the Ghent Altarpiece (closed) he mainly uses earth tones and reds for his main colors. The earth tones that are present in this piece are light browns, white, black, gold/yellow and a little bit of green. I find this odd for a religious painting because for me earth tones seem more humble than other colors. Unlike how most “kings” are portrayed in purple for the representation of a holy figure. And around the time the painting was made people of the cloth were not seen as humble but more as godly and powerful. Although, that may be the reason why Van Eyck clothed the two people in the bottom corners in red. It is not said who exactly those two people are but with the use of the color red they take on the connotation of power because of the colors meaning. They however are not seen as all powerful because they are still seen knelling with their hands together representing prayer. But just with the use of a little red it shows that these two people possible had more power than the rest in just plain earth toned clothes.