Color Theory and Chromesthesia

Assignment #1

Exploring Kandinsky and Chromesthesia

• Spend some time experimenting with these two interactive resources about Kandinsky

  • Chrome Music Lab - Kandinsky

  • How to Play a Kandinsky - The Pompidou

• Fill out this worksheet about color: Color According to Kandinsky

• Listen to the following composition from Eli. As you listen, think about the following questions (take notes if you’d like):

  • What emotions do you feel listening to this? What smells, tastes, visuals, or memories come to mind?

  • Compare your reactions to your worksheet about color - and from there build a color palette for your painting.

    • For example - if this audio makes you feel restless and disturbed - perhaps red will be the primary color for your composition with touches of yellow (Kandinsky wrote that red can be associated with restlessness, and yellow with disturbance).

  • The subject matter for your painting is up to you - you can work abstractly or representationally

    • If working in abstraction - try taking notes from Kandinsky. Look at the slides in the powerpoint or look below to reference some of his work.

Assignment #2:

Kandinsky - Responding to Poetry and Music

1. Color palette for this week: Kandinsky’s Two Riders Before Red

• 5 colors: black, white, red, yellow, blue, green (pre-mix and bottle your colors, or mix as you go)

2. Listen to/read the poem “Hills” by Kandinsky, and respond using paint in the color palette listed above

• Two choices when responding to the poem:

  • Respond to the literal narrative of the poem

  • Respond to the poem in a more abstract way - think of it as simply sounds and don’t focus on the narrative as much

• Download a PDF of Hills Poem

3. Listen to the music for this week and respond again using the same color palette

• This can be a further development of the poem painting, or a new piece

Assignment #3:

Tonal Disruptors and Kandinsky

• Pick a Kandinsky painting to focus on (options can be found below)

• Study the painting - notice how Kandinsky uses line, shape, color and form

  • You can take notes on the painting, do some free writing/poetry writing in response, or even make a small sketch of it

  • Create a color palette based off of the painting - pick three/four colors from the painting

• After studying your Kandinsky piece, respond to the music for this week using your color palette

  • You can imitate Kandinsky’s style if you would like, or be as free as you want with your painting approach