(Romance sonámbulo, F.García Lorca)
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| Picasso, Green Stil Life, 1914 |
Green represents nature, growth, spring… anything green is also fresh
and healthy (which is why pharmacies are symbolized with a green cross; green
is also present in aspirine’s package); it’s identified with the immature and
youth; we can see Jesus and John the Baptist as kids are represented with that
color in some medieval artworks. It’s also the color of hope: after a time of lack and wait such as in winter, a time of green and nature follows; green ornaments
for the Catholic Church represent the time of wait, the Ordinary Time. And of course, the Greens are those who defend
the enviromental protection.
Since it’s related to spring, it’s also related to fertility, and
that’s how in tales, we tend to see how every Prince Charming has turned into a
frog. In Middle Age, it’d represent a recently begun love, a period of time in
which the women would wear in green, such as in Brueghel’s The Peasent Wedding, where the woman is wearing a green neck dress.
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| Brueghel, the Older, The peasent Wedding, 1568 (fragment) |
In those places with abundant forests, green is related to fearsome
experiences, and therefore, to the Devil. There’s no green mammal, while we can
find green spirits, dragons and maleficent beings: there are plenty green comic
monsters!
Despite being healthy mostly, green is also used for poisonous
substances. Green was also Napoleon’s favorite color: during his exile in Saint
Helena, his room’s wallpapers were green, and since the pigment used was partly
composed by arsenic, the gradual evaporation of it caused his death.
In fashion, the most common pigments wouldn’t be resistant enough to
be washed (that inconstancy led it to represent infidelity too). The most
intense pigments were much more expensive and only the wealthy classes could
afford it, which is the case of lady Arnolfini, who we already mentioned in our
past post about red (click here): she is noble, she
wasn’t allowed to wear red. In the lower chamber of the English Parliament, the
seats are green to remark how its members are chosen by the people. (In the
upper chamber, though, the seats are red since the members were part of the
nobility).
It’s also a relaxing color, that smoothes red as a consequence of both
of them being complementary (read the post here). This
opposition between them can be found also in traffic lights, which caused green
to also mean permission, and to be present in emergency exits or in the
American Green Card.
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| Johns, Green Target, 1955 |
It’s said that Neron to go the circus and watch the show through an
emmerald to give his eyes a rest from having to see such an amount of blood.
Surgeons wear green for the same reason.
There are plenty examples, and these are two of them:
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| Cézanne, Green Apples, 1873 |
Sources: Welsch, N.-Liebmann, C.Chr. Farben. München, Elsevier V.2004;
Heller, E. Wie Farben
auf Gefühl und Verstand wirken. München, Droemer V., 2000;
personal notes
In case you want to listen to any green
song:
(click on the titles)
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