The same simple sky, hill and tree shown three times: in everyday local colors, as observed in sunset light, and in expressive colors such as a pink hill under a green sky.

Concept · Color in Painting

Local and Expressive Color

Local color is the color an object has in plain daylight, apart from its surroundings; expressive color is a color the painter chooses for effect, whether or not the object could have it.

Between the two lies observed color: the object as actually lit and changed by its neighbors. Where a painter sits on this range tells the viewer how literally to take the picture.

  • Ask whether any real light could produce a color; in ordinary daylight, a pink hill under a green sky could not.
  • Painters often keep drawing and values believable while freeing hue, so the scene still reads.
  • Local color alone tends to look flat because it ignores light; many painters treat it as a starting point.

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