Hue. Entry 2.

With the basics of hue's properties explained, the next step is to establish how these base colours are implemented and combined in a composition.

To begin my study of professional usage of colour, I have chosen to examine a work by Pablo Picasso. The work is called 'The Old Guitarist', It is a classic example of his 'blue period' works.

To begin with, we can see that the composition is a classic blue/orange composition, blue and orange being opposites on the colour wheel, we know that this image is a standard complimentary composition.. the sea of blue permeating the image sedates the details and layout of the scenes architecture, Whilst the powerful orange of the guitar draws the eye to the only truly warm colour available to the viewer. The complimentary colours push against each other creating a very clear focal point in the body of the guitar itself. Despite the fact the hierarchy of human attention puts areas of high contrast far above simple hue variations, the bright highlights of the old mans head and arms seem almost secondary for attention to the warm orange hues of the guitar.

Also of note is the ground, pictured in the scene as a muddy mixture of the blue's and oranges that comprise the majority of the scene. The ground also appears to be orange, however the cold blue of the scene spills into it, producing a murky, greenish orange shade that does little to offer the scene more warmth, a clear intention in achieving the melancholy composition Picasso was fixated with at the time.

Also interesting are the greenish tones found in the old man's skin. I assume this is done to show that the warmth of the guitar's orange was once present in some form in the mans skin, but is now all but extinguished  by the blue.

This seems to me to be a form of telling story exclusively with colour. The guitar could represent many things,  warmth, love, life... a myriad of comforting and hopeful aspects of the mans life, it seems however, that the blue bleeding through everything in the image is telling the story of a man whom has lost these things. He seems cold, and hopeless, the orange glow of warmth and light dying away from his skin, and even the ground he sits upon. The man is becoming a part of the background. All that retains its colour is the lasting symbol of those things he has lost, the guitar, which is impervious to these changes, being inanimate.

The deduction that the man is sad and has seen better days doesn't take an academic to reach, the pose of the character and his appearance and attire can tell something of this story, but to me, a lot of the context and 'back story' of the image and character would be utterly lost should the hue be removed.