July 25, 2012
From the beginning of time red has been deeply ingrained in the human mind as a signal to act or re-act, to fight or flee. It is the color of life-sustaining blood or life-threatening bloodshed as well as the color of enticing, appetite arousing ripened fruits and delicious foods that sustain humans’ very existence.
“In a report published online in the journal Science, Dr. Pike (Alistair W. G. Pike of the University of Bristol in England) and his colleagues noted that the oldest dated art is ‘nonfigurative and monochrome (red)’, supporting the notion that the earliest expression of art in Western Europe was less concerned with animal depiction and characterized by red dots, disks, line and hand stencils.”
Pedro Saura/Agence France-Presse – Getty Images
The most physical color in the spectrum, red suggests the very ebb and flow of life.
This post was brought to you today by the color red from my book Color: Messages & Meanings, the New York Times and the number 37,000.
With Science, New Portrait of the Cave Artist – NYTimes.com.
