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You are here: Home / Articles / Many Shades of Gray in Art by Artist Members and Art from Art History

Many Shades of Gray in Art by Artist Members and Art from Art History

By Renee Phillips 3 Comments

Enjoy Art and Facts About Gray!

Our series of Color theme online exhibitions are a big success. We receive many emails from interior designers, individual art buyers and art consultants who are delighted to have a resource like ours. Advisors in the healthcare industry appreciate our focus on healing art and the importance of color. In this outstanding online exhibition “Many Shades of Gray in Art by Artist Members” you’ll view a diverse range of works of art in which artist members have artfully used the color gray.  As the title suggests, there are a myriad shades of this color and our members are extremely creative in their styles and mediums.

The artist members prove the color gray has a huge range of versatility and many healing attributes.

You’ll also read many interesting facts and famous quotations about the color.

Pablo Picasso's "Girl with a Mandolin", Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Public Domain.
Pablo Picasso’s “Girl with a Mandolin”, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Public Domain.

Did you know this fact about gray?
Analytic Cubism is one of the two major branches Cubism. The artists in this stylistic period used  monochromatic colors such as gray. Instead of an emphasis on color, they focused on forms, such as the cylinder, sphere and the cone to represent the natural world.

At the end you’ll view more art by famous artists with shades of gray.


Beautiful Art with Gray by Artist Members and Art Reviews

As you look at each work of art, ask yourself how does this art speak to me? If I were to bring it into my home, how would it change my life in a positive way? The color gray plays an important role in altering our moods. You’ll quickly realize the importance of gray and no longer see it as a “neutral” color.

I think its importance is understated. If you have lacked an appreciation for this color perhaps this exhibition will change your perception.

The artists’ names will take you to their pages and their websites. Please contact them directly to purchase their art. Visit our art gallery.

Sandra Belitza-Vazquez

Looking Toward Half Dome Photography Variable Sizes
Looking Toward Half Dome Photography Variable Sizes

“A gray day provides the best light.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

“If I see everything in gray, and in gray all the colors which I experience and which I would like to reproduce, then why should I use any other color?” ~ Alberto Giacometti

Roopa Dudley

Moon in Scorpio, acrylic on canvas, 40" x 30"
Moon in Scorpio, acrylic on canvas, 40″ x 30″

Gray is often associated with sophistication, elegance and electric impulses. It can also be a bit mysterious, dreamlike, atmospheric, elusive and ethereal.

According to interior design trend casters the deep, blueish gray color has a comforting depth that promotes the importance of time spent at leisure, allowing us to unwind and relax.

Cheraine Collette

The Guardians by Cheraine Colette
The Guardians by Cheraine Colette

“The fundamental grey, which differentiates the masters, is the soul of all colour.” ~ Odilon Redon

“Better grey than garishness.” ~ Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

When infused with greens or blues, such as dove gray or seafoam, gray has the ability to take on the hues of these colors in a way that gives gray a completely fresh look.

Bren Sibilsky

Bren Sibilsky, The Tree Quest, Resin, Epoxy Patina, Paint, Moss (sold), 7" x 10" x 3".
Bren Sibilsky, The Tree Quest, Resin, Epoxy Patina, Paint, Moss, 7″ x 10″ x 3″. (sold)

“The color of truth is gray.” ~ Andre Gide,  French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Over the centuries, expert artists have created gray by mixing black and white in various proportions. However, it doesn’t end there. They add a little red to make a warmer gray or a little blue for a cooler gray.

Debora Levy

Cups of Coffee, oil paint on wood panel, 14" x 11"
Cups of Coffee, oil paint on wood panel, 14″ x 11″

“If you take an intense color and put an intense complement next to it without graying it, it’s very hot. The gray allows the eye to do the visual mixing.” ~ Simmie Knox

In your mind’s eye, try to imagine any important work of art without either major areas or small portions of some shades of gray. That’s when you understand its importance.


A Few Famous Works of Art With The Color Gray

 And More Facts About This Diverse Color

Mary Cassatt, A Kiss for Baby Anne, pastel, 17" x 25". Photo: Public domain.
Mary Cassatt, A Kiss for Baby Anne, pastel, 17″ x 25″. Photo: Public domain.

If you’re wondering which is the correct way to spell the color — “gray” or “grey” — the answer is both spellings are correct. Gray is the more common spelling in American English, while grey is more common in British English-speaking countries like the U.K. and Canada.

For architects, interior designers, and fashion designers, gray has long been a color to turn to for its ability to add instant style and a timeless elegance to designs.

Ansel Adams, Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park, photograph. Photo: Public Domain, via commons.wikimedia.org
Ansel Adams, Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park, photograph. Photo: Public Domain, via commons.wikimedia.org

“Gray is great. People think gray is a neutral, but I think it’s such a moody, intense, dramatic and sexy color. It’s very sleek.” ~ Bryan Batt

The most successful grays are achieved by mixing two complementary colors — opposite colors on the color wheel — such as purple and yellow.

When it comes to the healing power of colors, gray offers many benefits. It can remove feelings of anxiety and offer a sense of calm when the busy, noisy, robust energy of life overwhelms us.

Pablo Picasso, The Old Guitarist, oil on panel, oil on panel, 48 3/8" x 32 1/2". Public domain in the U.S. wikipedia.org
Pablo Picasso, The Old Guitarist, oil on panel, oil on panel, 48 3/8″ x 32 1/2″. Public domain in the U.S. wikipedia.org

“Gray can be easily overlooked, but it’s quite a fascinating color if you look a little deeper. “~ Kate Smith, an internationally recognized color expert, consultant, and designer

Grey became a highly fashionable color in the 18th century, both for women’s dresses and for men’s waistcoats and coats. It looked luminous in the silk and satin fabrics worn by the nobility and wealthy

During the Renaissance and the Baroque, gray began to play an important role in fashion and art. Black became the most popular color of the nobility, particularly in Italy, France, and Spain, and gray and white were harmonious with it.

environmental art
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 2005. Public domain.

The actual color of the moon is a medium grey. When we look at the moon our eye compares it’s brightness to what is near the moon, a black sky. Compared to black the brightly lit grey moon appears nearly white.

The word “grey” comes from the Middle English grai or grei, from the Anglo-Saxon grǣġ, and is related to the Dutch grauw and German grau. The first recorded use of grey as a color name in the English language was in 700 AD.

The color gray can exude an energy all its own and it also has the power to make other colors adjacent to it radiate more than they would without it.

A work of art that uses many shades of gray focuses on attributes such as line, contour, form, design and composition. There are no distracting colors to compete against the details.

We hope you enjoyed viewing “Many Shades of Gray”

Visit our art gallery.

View all of our exhibitions.

Filed Under: Articles, Artist Members, Exhibition, Featured Article, Featured Articles, Featured Artists Tagged With: Ansel Adams, art with gray, gray, Mary Cassatt, online exhibition, Robert Smithson, Vincent van Gogh

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About Renee Phillips

Renée Phillips founded The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS in 2015. She is founder and director of Manhattan Arts International www.ManhattanArts.com, where she maintains an online art gallery. She also helps artists achieve their fullest potential with articles and writing services at Renee-Phillips.com.

Comments

  1. Lynette L Rosario says

    09/09 at 10:17 am

    Absolutely LOVE Beth Sheridan’s horse painting! Absolutely gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      09/09 at 10:19 am

      Hi Lynette, I agree. Beth’s art is gorgeous. However, it is not a painting. It is a photograph.

      Reply
  2. sbhibu says

    06/08 at 3:46 am

    Gray is a basic color that can be used to represent your emotions. As I get many grays between black and white I love to explore them. Thanks for the article.

    Reply

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