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jan van eyck

May 8, 2025 12 Comments

The Ultimate Collection of Color in Art: Examples and Definitions

Color is often the first thing students notice when they look at a work of art. It’s emotional. It’s bold. It shapes the entire mood and message of the piece.

That makes it one of the most powerful tools you can teach.

In this post, you’ll find a curated collection of artworks that show color in action—from symbolism and contrast to harmony and chaos. Use them to spark discussion, inspire student work, and bring the element of color to life in your classroom.

👉 Want a printable to go with it? Grab the free Elements & Principles Pack below to get ready-to-use teaching materials. Click the yellow “Download” button.

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* Elements & Principles Printable Pack *

The Elements & Principles of Art are the foundation of every artwork, but teaching them can be a bore. Wake your students up and engage them with full color artworks, easy to understand definitions, and thought-provoking higher level thinking questions. This versatile resource can be hung in the classroom or used as an art manipulative.

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* Elements & Principles Printable Pack *

The Elements & Principles of Art are the foundation of every artwork, but teaching them can be a bore. Wake your students up and engage them with full color artworks, easy to understand definitions, and thought-provoking higher level thinking questions. This versatile resource can be hung in the classroom or used as an art manipulative.

Inside: A curated collection of color in art examples, showcasing how artists use color to express emotion, create contrast, and shape meaning. A continuation of the Elements and Principles of Art series.

This post is part of the Elements of Art series—check out the full collection to build a rich, connected curriculum.

Looking for classroom-ready activities? These printable art interpretation worksheets pair perfectly with the artworks in this post.

Download the Free Elements and Principles Printable Pack

This pack of printables was designed to work in a variety of ways in your classroom when teaching the elements and principles of art. You can print and hang in your classroom as posters/anchor charts or you can cut each element and principle of art in its own individual card to use as a lesson manipulative.

Examples of Color in Art

The Art Curator for Kids - Color in Art Examples - Primary Color Art

Primary Color Art

The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The primary colors are the basis for all other colors. You cannot do anything to mix blue, yellow, or red. They just exist.

  • Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942-43
  • Mark Rothko, Untitled (Yellow, Red, and Blue), 1953
  • Jacob Lawrence, Workshop (Builders #1), 1972 and many others
  • Cy Twombly, Summer Madness, 1990 (Click link, then click #20)
  • Hans Hofmann, The Golden Wall, 1961
  • Pablo Picasso, Claude and Paloma Playing, 1950
  • Fritz Glarner, Relational Painting No. 64, 1953
  • Roy Lichtenstein, Stepping Out, 1978
  • Ancient Roman, Glass Garland Bowl, late 1st century B.C.E.
  • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ambassadeurs Aristide Bruant in his cabaret, 1892
  • Nicolas Poussin, The Death of Germanicus, 1627

Complementary Colors in Art

Complementary colors in art are opposite each other on the color wheel. They create a lot of contrast in art. Look around in the world, and you will be surprised how often complementary colors are used. What are the sets of complementary colors? The basic complementary color pairings are red and green, purple and yellow, and orange and blue.

  • Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle), 1913
  • Pablo Picasso, Woman in Striped Armchair, 1941
  • Rufino Tamayo, Women of Tehuantepec, 1939, Oil on canvas

The Art Curator for Kids - example of color in art - Complementary Colors in Art - Green and Red

Complementary Colors in Art – Red and Green

  • Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911
  • Ando Hiroshige, Plum Estate, Kameido From “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo”, 1857
  • Shinobo Ishihara, Test for Color Deficiency
  • Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, 1888
  • Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434
  • Henri Matisse, Portrait of Madame Matisse (Green Stripe), 1905
  • Pablo Picasso, Woman with Hat, 1962
  • Georgia O’Keeffe, Anything, 1916 (Click link, top right image)
  • Vincent van Gogh, La Berceuse (Woman Rocking a Cradle; Augustin-Alix Pellicot Roulin, 1851-1930), 1889
  • Kay Kurt, Weingummi II, 1973

Complementary Colors in Art - Blue and Orange

Complementary Colors in Art – Blue and Orange

  • Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, 1890
  • Edgar Degas, Ballerina and Lady with Fan, 1885
  • Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight, 1892
  • Paul Klee, Ad Parnassum, 1932
  • Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1889
  • Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872
  • Fritz Bultman, Blue I, 1958
  • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Portrait of Oscar Wilde, 1895
  • Sandy Skoglund, Revenge of the Goldfish, 1981
  • Stuart Davis, Colonial Cubism, 1954
  • Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
  • Arnold Böcklin, Island of the Dead, 1880

artist who use colour - Complementary Colors in Art - Purple and Yellow

Complementary Colors in Art – Purple and Yellow

  • Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1914-1926
  • Fritz Scholder, Dream Horse G, 1986
  • Henri Matisse, The Dream, 1940
  • Pablo Picasso, Woman with Yellow Hair, 1931 (also red/green)
  • Ray Spillenger, Purple and Yellow, 1963
  • Francis Bacon, Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953
  • Federico Barocci, The Nativity, c. 1597
  • Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1954

The Art Curator for Kids - elements of color in art - Analogous Colors Examples

Analogous Colors Examples

Analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel. They create unity in art because they are made of the same colors. Example sets of analogous colors are blue, blue-green, and green or orange, red-orange, and red.

  • Josef Albers, Homage to the Square: Soft Spoken, 1969
  • Vincent van Gogh, The Olive Trees, 1889
  • Claude Monet, The Water-Lily Pond, 1899
  • Mark Rothko, Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red), 1949
  • Helen Frankenthaler, Freefall, 1992
  • Ed Paschke, Painted Lady, 1995
  • Giorgio de Chirico, Mystery and Melancholy of a Street, 1914
  • Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Young Girl Reading, c. 1770
  • Geertgen Tot Sint Jans, John the Baptist in the Wilderness, ca. 1490

Warm and Cool Colors in Art

Warm colors are the colors red, orange, and yellow. They are bright and pop out. They create energy and excitement in an artwork. Blue and green are cool colors. These cool colors create a calming energy in an artwork. Violet/purple can be both warm and cool depending on how much red or how much blue is in the violet.

The Art Curator for Kids - Color in Art Examples - Warm Colors in Art

Warm Colors in Art

  • Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888
  • Paul Gauguin, Still Life with Mangoes, 1891-1896
  • Mark Rothko, Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red), 1949
  • Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, 1888
  • Robert Adam, The Croome Court tapestry room, Worcestershire, 1758-67
  • Frederic Church, Cotopaxi, 1862
  • Caravaggio, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, 1601-1602

The Art Curator for Kids - famous artists that use colour - Cool Colors in ArtCool Colors in Art

  • Claude Monet, The Artist’s Garden at Giverny, 1900
  • Winslow Homer, Fishing Boats, Key West, 1903
  • Richard Parkes Bonington, The Undercliff, 1828
  • James McNeil Whistler, Nocturne, Blue and Silver: Chelsea, 1871
  • Natalya Goncharova, Linen, 1913
  • Katsushika Hokusai, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, ca. 1829-32

The Art Curator for Kids - Color in Art Examples - Neutral Colors in Art

Neutral Colors in Art

Neutral colors are created by using white and black or are created by mixing sets of complementary colors together to make varying shades of brown. Examples of neutrals include gray, brown, tan, white, black, etc.

  • El Lissitzky, Proun 19D, c. 1922
  • Claude Monet, Sunrise (Marine), 1873
  • Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Iris, 1926
  • Camille Pissarro, Place du Théâtre Français, Paris: Rain, 1898
  • Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912

Color Intensity in Art

Intensity refers to how saturated a color is. It is the brightness or the dullness of a color. Colors with high intensity are bright, and colors with low intensity are dull.

The Art Curator for Kids - elements of art colour - Color Intensity in Art: High Intensity

Color Intensity in Art: High Intensity

  • Pablo Picasso, The Weeping Woman, 1937
  • Andre Derain, Charing Cross Bridge, 1906
  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Seated Girl (Fränzi Fehrmann), 1910
  • Jim Dine, The Circus #3, 2007

Color Intensity in Art: Low Intensity examples

Color Intensity in Art: Low Intensity

  • Salima Hashmi, Poem for Zainab, 1994
  • Paul Klee, Hammamet with Its Mosque, 1914
  • Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Moulin Rouge The Departure of the Quadrille, 1892
  • Camille Pissarro, Place du Théâtre Français, Paris: Rain, 1898
  • Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea, 1952

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Elements and Principles Teaching Bundle

This extraordinary bundle includes the best resources for teaching each of the elements and principles—37 worksheets/handouts, 15 lessons (with accompanying PowerPoints and Handouts), 3 ready-to-go art analysis activities, 3 art analysis videos, and 13 elements and principle PDF articles.

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For more elements of art examples and principles of design examples, visit the following resources.



The Art Curator for Kids -Example Artworks that Show Space - The Elements and Principles of Art Series-300The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks that Show Line - The Elements and Principles of Art - 300The Art Curator for Kids - Example Artworks that Show Emphasis - The Elements and Principles of Art SeriesElements and Principles of Art - Artworks that Show Proportion in art and ScaleThe Art Curator for Kids - Elements and Principles of Art Series - Artworks that Show Shape - 300The Art Curator for Kids - Why I Hate the Elements and Principles But Teach Them Anyway - 300The Art Curator for Kids - How Artists Depict Space - Masterpiece Monday - John Sloan , South Beach Bathers, 1907-1908, Art Lessons for Kids - Elements of Art Lessons

Filed Under: Elements and Principles of Art
Tagged With: ando hiroshige, andre derain, arnold böcklin, camille pissarro, caravaggio, claude monet, cy twombly, ed paschke, edgar degas, edvard munch, el lissitzky, ernst ludwig kirchner, federico barocci, francis bacon, frederic church, fritz bultman, fritz glarner, fritz scholder, geertgen tot sint jans, georgia o'keeffe, giorgio de chirico, hans hofmann, helen frankenthaler, henri de toulouse-lautrec, henri matisse, jacob lawrence, james whistler, jan van eyck, jean-honore fragonard, jim dine, josef albers, kay kurt, marc chagall, marcel duchamp, mark rothko, mary cassatt, natalia goncharova, nicolas poussin, pablo picasso, paul gauguin, paul klee, piet mondrian, ray spillenger, richard parkes bonington, robert adam, roy lichtenstein, rufino tamayo, salima hashmi, sandy skoglund, stuart davis, vincent van gogh, wassily kandinsky, winslow homer

 

January 6, 2015 19 Comments

A Year of Art Appreciation for Kids: 52 Artworks your Child Should Know

I have compiled for you a massive list of artworks for you to look at with your kids this year. I picked one artwork for each week of the year, and I tried to pick the best of the best. If you haven’t been showing art to your kids, this is a great list to start with! Just sit down and talk about a new artwork each week for a few minutes.

Please note, this post includes Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

How to Talk about Art with Your Kids

Here are some posts from Art Class Curator for tips at looking at art with your kids.

  • How to Look at Art with your Children
  • How to Look at Art with Toddlers and Preschoolers
  • Charlotte Mason Picture Study: An Easy Way to Introduce Art to your Kids

Art Appreciation for Kids

Instead of dividing by week, I divided by time period. Regrettably, this list does not include non-western art or contemporary art. For more awesome non-western art, check out my Art Around the World series. Each entry below includes a link to find the picture.

the Art Curator for Kids - Art Appreciation for Kids - Ancient to Classical Art

Ancient to Classical Art

  • Prehistoric, Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf), c. 28,000-25,000 B.C.E (On ACFK, 5 Artworks to Promote Introspection) (Buy replica on Amazon)
  • Sumer, the Standard of Ur, about 2600-2400 B.C.E. (Book about this artwork)
  • The Law Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon, c. 1750 B.C.E (Book about Hammurabi’s Code)
  • Ancient Egyptian, Palette of King Narmer, c. 3000-2920 B.C.E.
  • Myron (Ancient Greek), Discus-thrower (Discobolus), Roman copy of a bronze original of the 5th century BC (Book about this artwork)
  • Hellenistic Greek, Laocoön and His Sons, early first century C.E.
  • Ancient Roman, Augustus of Primaporta, first century, C.E.
  • Ancient Roman, The Alexander Mosaic, ca. 100 BC (Poster of this artwork)

the Art Curator for Kids - Art Appreciation for Kids - Medieval to Renaissance Art

Medieval and Renaissance Art

  • Byzantine, Justinian and his Attendants, Basilica di San Vitale, 547 C.E
  • Gothic, Chartres Cathedral (Book about Chartres)
  • Jan and Hubert van Eyk, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (Ghent Altarpiece), 1432 (Book about the Nazi theft of this artwork)
  • Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1482-85 (Poster of this artwork)
  • Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, 1498 (Print of this artwork on wood)
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti, Sistene Chapel Ceiling, 1508-12 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
  • Raphael, School of Athens, 1509-11 (Coffee mug of this artwork)
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti, Slaves or Prisoners, ca. 1520-23



the Art Curator for Kids - Art Appreciation for Kids - 17th-18th Century Art

17th-18th Century Art

  • Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1614-20 (On ACFK, Masterpiece Monday) (Novel about the Artist)
  • Gianlorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-25 (Replica of this sculpture)
  • Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630
  • Rembrandt, Officers and Men of the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Wilhelm van Ruytenburgh, known as the Night Watch, 1642 (Canvas print of this artwork)
  • Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656 (On ACFK, 20 Great Artworks to Look at with Young Kids) (Poster of this artwork)
  • Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767 (Poster of this artwork)
  • Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1785 (Poster of this artwork)

the Art Curator for Kids - Art Appreciation for Kids - 19th Century Art

19th-Century Art

  • Francisco Goya, Third of May, 1808 (Mouse pad of this artwork)
  • Eugène Delacroix, July 28: Liberty Leading the People, 1830 (Poster of this artwork)
  • William Turner, Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840 (Poster of this artwork)
  • Claude Monet, Les Nymphéas (The Water Lilies), 1840-1926 (Monet magnets)
  • Jean-François Millet, L’Angélus, c. 1857-1859
  • Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884 (Coffee mug of this artwork)
  • Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais, 1884-95 (Coffee mug of this artwork)
  • Paul Gauguin, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?, 1897-98
  • Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889 (On ACFK, 5 Exciting Art History Projects for Kids that Made me Say “WOW!”) (Umbrella of this artwork)

the Art Curator for Kids - Art Appreciation for Kids - Modern Art

Modern and Contemporary Art

  • Henri Matisse, Harmony in Red/La Desserte, 1908 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
  • Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1910 (Inflatable Scream Doll)
  • Franz Marc, Fate of the Animals, 1913 (On ACFK, Art Spotlight: Franz Marc’s Fate of the Animals)
  • Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911 (On ACFK, 5 Artworks Your Children will Love) (Poster of this artwork)
  • Wassily Kandinsky, Panel for Edwin R. Campbell No. 4, 1914
  • Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931 (Melting clock)
  • Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
  • Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939 (On ACFK, 5 Artworks to Intrigue Your High Schooler) (Poster of this artwork)
  • Jackson Pollock, One: Number 31, 1950, 1950 (Book about this artwork)
  • Francis Bacon, Study after Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953 (On ACFK, Art Around the World in 30 Days – Ireland)
  • Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans, 1962 (Converse shoes of this artwork)
  • Robert Rauschenberg, Skyway, 1964
  • Andy Goldsworthy, Fall Leaves (On ACFK, 5 Exciting Art History Projects for Kids that Made me Say “WOW!”) (Book about this artist)

the Art Curator for Kids - Art Appreciation for Kids - American

American Art

  • John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778  (On ACFK: Charlotte Mason Picture Study: John Singleton Copley)
  • Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872 (Jigsaw puzzle of this artwork)
  • John Singer Sargent, El Jaleo, 1882 (Poster of this artwork)
  • Frederic Remington, A Dash for the Timber, 1889 (Poster of this artwork)
  • Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930 (Children’s book about this artist)
  • Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series, 1940-41 (Children’s book about this series)
  • Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942 (Poster of this artwork)

Whew! This is quite a list. It was hard to choose, and I know I left out some great artworks. Keep reading on Art Class Curator to learn more about teaching art to kids.

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Filed Under: Art Connection Activities
Tagged With: andy goldsworthy, andy warhol, artemisia gentileschi, auguste rodin, claude monet, diego velazquez, edvard munch, edward hopper, eugene delacroix, francis bacon, francisco goya, franz marc, frederic remington, frida kahlo, georges seurat, gian lorenzo bernini, grant wood, henri matisse, jackson pollock, jacob lawrence, jacques-louis david, jan van eyck, jean-francois millet, jean-honore fragonard, john singer sargent, john singleton copley, judith leyster, leonardo da vinci, marc chagall, michelangelo, pablo picasso, paul gauguin, raphael, rembrandt, robert rauschenberg, salvador dali, sandro botticelli, thomas moran, vincent van gogh, wassily kandinsky, william turner

 

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