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Color psychology involves the study of colors in altering emotions. Red makes us angry. Pastels are soothing. Dusti Bongé was a believer of this idea. This week’s artwork in conjunction with our partnership with the Dusti Bongé Art Foundation shares insight into the artist’s interest in color psychology.
Insight, as always, comes from Dusti Bongé Art Foundation Executive Director Ligia M. Römer.
Dusti Bongé, Drooping Wings, pen and ink drawing on paper
Dusti Bongé included this drawing in her 1982 book, “The Life of an Artist.” In the book, each of her works of art is accompanied by a facing page of personal musings and occasional short poems. Dusti herself indicated that the pairings of the artwork and the words were at times random, but that somehow all were different forms of expressing the same thing or means of giving voice to specific ideas in varying ways.
This piece is accompanied by a short poem that refers to the title, Drooping Wings. However, the accompanying musing is partly about color and the colors of certain things or thoughts, i.e., the idea that colors imbue things with meaning. Dusti associated certain colors with certain concepts or emotions.
In this case the color is saffron, which is of course a kind of yellow. Dusti identified yellow with suffering. Thus, on the one hand color, saffron represents suffering, and on the other hand the black pen and ink drawing on paper of a figure with drooping wings also expresses suffering. The poem brings the two very different expressions of suffering together in one. Herewith the poem:
Saffron Suffering
Caught up in time
Delaying the ultimatum
Of drooping wings
Dusti Bongé in a conclusory note said, “However, the statement that I have made in this drawing is more important to me, than the color.”
What do you think?