Boring, old and poor

GRAY

Picasso, The dressmakers, 1926

Gray is not a color: it’s a valeur, as we saidpreviously here. It’s just a weak white light. It’s part neither of the rainbow nor of the color wheel. In nature it’s seen in ashes or some tree leaves, on rocks and on some animals’ furs. Apart from these cases, it’s hardly found in nature (there are no gray flowers, for example).

We’ve also seen how in painting we can get gray by mixing several colors, for example, mixing complementary colors, or tertiary or quaternary. (See here) That’s why we can find warm and cold, depending on which colors were used in the mixture.

The pointillists used a touch of a pure color next to another, so that these colors vibrate with more intensity, but if you step back from the painting, being around 1’5 meters from it, you’ll see how those colors turn gray. This was the weak point of their technique.

Gris, Portrait of Josette,
1916

Grünewald, Heller
Altarpiece, 1509

We’ve also seen how we can paint in ‘grisaille’, that is, painting monochromatically, and we gave Ingres and Picasso as example. Here you’ve got some others that also used this technique.

However, a pure color’s energy is enhanced when gray is placed next to it.

Mondrian, Composition in red, black, blue, yellow and gray,
1920

In terms of its symbolic aspect, it’s a characterless color: it’s neither black nor white, which leads it to be a sign of mediocrity, apathy or insecurity. It’s also as boring as some cloudy and rainy days.

Ash Wednesday puts an end to the colorfulness and the party of Carnival. Ashes imply desolation and sadness; gray leaf trees are also used as sign of death and mourning.

It alludes to nostalgy and remoteness... As it’s seen on elderly people’s hair, it’s also related to what is old and outmoded, or wisdom and experience. It’s different when we are talking about gray matter, alluding to brain, science and theory.

Sorolla, Gray Sea. San Sebastián, 1908

A city full of concrete will seem ugly to us. Mildew on food is also gray, so it’s also sign of what is not edible anymore, of what is rotten or expired.

In fashion, it’s sign of sobriety and elegance. It’s also used for mourning. It was also sign of poverty and humility, since cheap cloth was gray or brown if not dyed. It was also worn by prisoners or workers for how it hides dirt. It was also the uniform worn by seamstresses in early XX century in France, the so called ‘grisettes’.

Matisse, The Piano Lesson, 1916

If something is gray, it seems of bad quality; if you don’t believe it, then just think about paper, flour, cardboard or porcelain that is not completely white. Luxurious articles won’t come in a gray package: it would be contradictory for how it would give an image of a cheap product. But what would happen with gray fur coat? In these cases we pay more attention to the material it is made with than to its color.

If somebody wears gray, they will probably be introvert and want to stay unnoticed. Except when it comes to men’s fashion: a gray suit will always be distinguished if the cloth is not shiny.

Sources: Welsch, N.-Liebmann, C.Chr. Farben. München, Elsevier V., 2004;

Heller, E. Wie Farben auf Gefühl und Verstand wirken. München, Droemer V., 2000;

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