The Colorist
Archive

A living archive of how artists work with color across time. Each artist profile scans publicly available works to trace dominant colors, a chromatic fingerprint, and the arc of a palette across a lifetime.A living archive of how artists work with color across time, tracing palettes, fingerprints, and lifetime arcs from public works.

Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.

Scanning works…

Robert Delaunay

Delaunay built pure abstraction from the simultaneous contrast of colors. His Circular Forms and Eiffel Tower paintings use prismatic discs of red, blue, green, and orange to create visual rhythm.

Palette: #7F714F #BD9D61 #E3C98B #753A25 #151313 #C9581F #DDBB52 #E5AD15

  • Political Drama (1914): #E0D4C3 #DACC57 #1848A2 #7DC388 #57819A #D6B30F
  • Portrait of Tristan Tzara (1923): #AFADAE #2B3536 #4D5557 #AE9472 #7B6653 #12181A
  • Portuguese Woman (1916): #6682A5 #EDB20C #EBE5DD #DE7B10 #ECCF75 #D49966
  • L'Équipe de Cardiff (1923): #E6CD91 #D3A755 #F2C319 #AA9B58 #BC4A0E #F6D554
  • Saint-Séverin (1909): #4D7081 #E5DCC7 #B0B2A7 #D5C39A #7F8B8A #396594
  • Simultaneous Circles (1934): #85827B #B1B0AD #151817 #40699A #1F4929 #658737
  • The Road to Laon (1912): #CAC19A #9D9D8B #636660 #869095 #B3B8B5 #A7A06D
  • The Banks of the Yèvre (1903): #B39965 #988973 #6F614B #8F723B #4B4335 #CEAB59
  • The Towers of Laon (1912): #909483 #5E7782 #859999 #7E6C63 #606D65 #415350
  • The Bowl (1916): #141110 #513E2F #2B2018 #945633 #BA885F #826549
  • The Laundry Place (1904): #5D654E #807F4D #4D4B27 #354431 #AAA878 #B8B25F
  • The Spire of Notre-Dame (1909): #B7A8B7 #F0EDE7 #8084AE #806982 #718AD0 #91A4DA
  • View Over the Eiffel Tower (1910): #E4C788 #C39E63 #A08658 #695639 #995C2A #463520
  • Champs de Mars, the Red Tower (1911): #D4CBC0 #180C13 #D0A666 #3F3336 #42161A #826352
  • First Disk: #AA9986 #7F6E5F #57251E #27201B #3D4049 #864425
  • Circular Forms, Sun No. 2 (1910): #C5BAA5 #693F1B #638449 #9F6E3D #914926 #DB5D29

The Palette

The Works

How the palette changed

Chromatic Comparison

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