Have you ever seen a painting or piece of artwork that really made you feel certain kinds of emotions? While some people can find this strange or even uncomfortable, it’s actually a really common occurrence.
Artwork has a surprising influence on our mood because the subject matter, the colours used, and even the style it’s painted in can evoke certain kinds of emotions. For example, bright and warm colours such as red, orange, and yellow can simulate happiness and energy. Cooler colours, such as blue, green, and purple, are soothing and relaxing.
When colour psychology is mixed with the subject in the artwork, it can have a huge impact on our mood. Imagine a serene landscape with light blues, greens, and many other natural colours. It could evoke a sense of tranquillity, peace, and relaxation. On the other hand, a cartoon-style drawing with lots of dynamic movement and bright colours can be thrilling and exciting.
As you can see, there are multiple factors in every piece of artwork that can greatly influence our mood. So, in this post, let’s dive into this concept and take a look at how you can select artwork that has the power to influence your mood.
Selecting Based on Colours in the Artwork
Colours make up a large percentage of what we initially see in artwork. Whether we’re too far away to see the details in a piece of art, or if the artwork itself is mostly abstract, it’s the colours that we tend to notice first, and it often creates an early impression. As such, a lot of people tend to choose artwork for their home based on colours.
Colour psychology is one of the major factors that helps us choose suitable artwork for our rooms. If you want a room to feel peaceful and tranquil, then natural colours such as blue, green, and brown can evoke those feelings. However, if you’re selecting artwork for a game room or a child’s bedroom, then more exciting and bold colours such as red and yellow are a great choice.
However, you can also pick artwork based on colours that complement the rest of your room. You can match the colour of a piece of artwork with that of your furniture, or you can have it contrast with your wallpaper to make it pop and stand out. So, if you have a colour scheme that you want to stick to, artwork can help you create visual interest in your rooms without breaking away from those goals.
Lastly, you can also use artwork to add a splash of colour to your rooms. This is a technique used in a lot of modern and contemporary interior designs that utilise a lot of neutral colours such as white, grey, and black. These neutral colours work well with almost anything, which makes art a fantastic way to add a touch of colour to make rooms feel more lively.
Choosing Artwork With Suitable Subjects
It’s crucial to carefully choose artwork based on its subjects if you want to set a particular mood in your rooms. For example, calming spaces would work well with artwork of serene landscapes, botanicals, and still-life paintings. These are objects that we find in everyday life, and they can be used to stimulate a sense of familiarity, comfort, and connection within our living spaces.
The opposite is true for rooms which are host to more lively activities. A living room could have vibrant cityscapes and artwork with dynamic movements and action. It’s also possible to include abstract artwork and wall art sets to create a sense of continuity and consistency with all of the artwork in your home. There are a lot of different ways to make use of artwork like this, so it’s important to consider the type of mood that you want to establish in a room.
The scale of a piece of artwork can also influence our mood. For example, grand landscapes and skyscrapers can create a sense of scale and size. This is great for large rooms or areas where you want to enhance a feeling of spaciousness and grandeur. On the contrary, a more detailed piece of artwork with fewer subjects can feel more intimate and enclosed, leading to a sense of cosiness and closeness.
In short, matching the scale of a piece of artwork to your room creates a harmonious balance that contributes to the overall atmosphere that you aim to create.
