Art, obsession, and identity
Similarly to many other colors, orange has a range of symbolic meanings and connotations. For example, in many Western cultures orange is often used to signal fun, strength, and courage.
The status of purple stems from the rarity and cost of the dye originally used to produce it. The dye was known as Tyrian purple and came from a small mollusk that was found only in a region of the Mediterranean Sea near Tyre, located in modern-day Lebanon. More than 9,000 mollusks were needed to create just one gram of Tyrian purple, which explains why only the imperial elite could afford it.
For obvious reasons, the color green represents nature and the environment. However, more abstractly, it also symbolizes wisdom.
Red has a range of symbolic meanings, such as life, health, war, courage, anger, and love. The common thread is that all these require passion.
The Egyptians believed that a god named Thoth led the souls of the dead to a green hill of everlasting life and eternal wisdom. Later, the Romans based their god Mercury on Thoth. For this reason, in astrology, green is said to be the color of the planet Mercury, which is the planet that represents knowledge and celestial wisdom.
Throughout history, white has been synonymous with purity and virtue. This is why it's a color that lends itself to many religious ceremonies.
It's also the color of social communication and optimism. However, the negative color meaning is that it's a sign of pessimism and superficiality.
Pink is regarded widely in the Western world as the color of femininity. For this reason, it's often associated with softness, sweetness, and love.
A blend of the warmth of red and the optimism of yellow, orange is also considered to be an energetic and youthful color, with strong associations with creativity.
The color brown is considered to be a serious, down-to-earth color, signifying stability, structure, and support. However, it can be seen as boring at times.
However, research has shown that the color blue has many positive effects on people. For example, research exploring street crimes found that crime levels decreased in areas where blue streetlights had been installed.
A blend of white and red, pink is a prominent secondary color. Studies have shown that it calms and reassures our emotional energies, alleviating feelings of anger and aggression.
It's no surprise that yellow symbolizes happiness, warmth, and sunshine in most cultures, as these are characteristics of the Sun and its effects.
Black is often linked with negative associations, such as death, fear, or sadness. Many ancient cultures believed that black was the color of mystery and the wisdom of God(s).
However, even if it's a color with mainly positive attributes, it can be associated with immaturity, low confidence, and timid behavior.
In ancient Rome, children wore red coral as a talisman to protect them from diseases. And in China, children always wore a piece of red clothing for similar reasons.
Today, blue often conveys sadness and despair. When you've "got the blues," you're down. The connotation may relate to tears, as water was typically represented as blue.
The primary association of the color blue is the word truth, which is where the phrase "true blue" comes from. This is because blue is the color of a calm and clear sky, and it is the calm reflection that leads to truth.
Death is still represented by the color black in many cultures. Many believe this is because people saw similarities between death and sleep, which happens in the darkness of night and when closed eyelids block out all light.
For example, wearing white to a wedding dates back to ancient Rome when brides wore white tunics to signal their virginity. However, it wasn't until Queen Victoria walked down the aisle in a white lace dress in 1840, that wearing a white gown became truly popular.
But although white is often referred to as a color, it's actually the combination of all the wavelengths of color that are reflected off an object.
Purple symbolizes royalty, nobility, and imperialism. From ancient Rome to Elizabethan England, there were laws that forbade anyone except close members of the royal family from wearing the color.
Green is also the color of balance and growth. It can mean both self-reliance as a positive and possessiveness as a negative.
The color brown has a significant meaning in feng shui, the Chinese system of harmonizing your environment. Dark browns represent wood, whereas light browns represent earth and soil. Both tones are seen as energetic and nurturing, but should be used sparingly and in balance with other colors.
Sources: (Live Science) (Smashing Magazine)
See also: Nature's most colorful creatures
Throughout history, the color black has also been attached to fearful and mysterious things, such as black magic, black cats, black holes, and so on.
On the flip side, yellow can also represent impatience, criticism, and cowardice. This is why Judas is often depicted wearing a yellow robe.
Another consequence of this is that purple also came to represent spirituality and holiness. Ancient emperors, kings, and queens who wore the color were often considered to be gods.
In ancient cultures where a god or gods were associated with the Sun, yellow was the highest and noblest of colors and, thus, the color of religious figures and royals.
In many traditional cultures, red objects were believed to convey health through their color alone. For example, most red stones were believed to have health-giving and disease-preventing properties.
An earthy color, it's both a natural and neutral tone, which represents feelings of wholesomeness, orderliness, and being grounded.
There is great diversity in the use of colors and their associations between cultures, and even different time periods. They have been imbued with great symbolic powers that have been used in both art and anthropology since ancient times. Symbolic representations of religious concepts or emotions are usually associated with a specific color, and sometimes one color can even have multiple meanings.
Curious? Check out this gallery to discover the meaning of colors.
The meaning of colors and how they became symbolic
From fiery emotions to gentle warmth and serenity...
LIFESTYLE Symbolism
There is great diversity in the use of colors and their associations between cultures, and even different time periods. They have been imbued with great symbolic powers that have been used in both art and anthropology since ancient times. Symbolic representations of religious concepts or emotions are usually associated with a specific color, and sometimes one color can even have multiple meanings.
Curious? Check out this gallery to discover the meaning of colors.