Art Lovers discussion

Is black the absence of color or is it full of color? Which work of art best supports your view?
Aimee Dixon

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

Untitled
Mark Rothko
1969

I wouldn't really know how to answer this one but using this painting as a reference here, with the color surrounding the black, I feel that the black contains all colors. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But with that in mind, the answer to this question for me would be that black is full of color. At least, in this instance. Anyone?

Laureline
Franz Kline



Turbine
Franz Kline
1959

Abstract Painting No. 5
Ad Reinhardt



Iberia
Robert Motherwell

Notice none of them seem completely 'black'.

From a physics viewpoint, black absorbs all the wavelengths of light, and does not reflect light back to our eyes. So black is the absence of visible light from the point of view of our eyes viewing it.

White light contains all wavelengths of visible light reflecting back to our eyes.

It's the range of wavelengths of visible light reflecting to our eyes that determines the color we see. It doesn't sound very "artsy", but that's what's happening!

The black paintings you have shown are either not completely covered with black paint, or have some color around the edge of the painting. They also might not be a pure black.

Oh, I see that others have already answered this question in your "Just for Fun" folder. This is our science week for art lovers!

Hey Connie! I’m glad you brought that over here and for me, I need to read it multiple times to understand and remember the concept. Math and physics wasn’t my thing in school and haven’t used it since then. So I find this interesting!
Thank you for post this!

So I have a question and it might be a bit of a ‘blonde moment’ question, but how do we see anything but clear or transparency when looking at something all black if it doesn’t have any color?

Clear or transparency lets light pass through it. It does not reflect or absorb colors. Black absorbs all the colors so no light is reflected back to the eye.

You could google some information that would explain it better than I can. It's been a long time since I was in a physics class.

Connie wrote: "Clear or transparency lets light pass through it. It does not reflect or absorb colors. Black absorbs all the colors so no light is reflected back to the eye.

You could google some information tha..."

I'm impressed, Connie to say the least. Thank you!