Meilan Solly per lo Smithsonian Magazine descriveva l’influenza che hanno i colori sulla valutazione di un’opera d’arte.

Uno studio condotto da economisti dell’Università di Tilburg nei Paesi Bassi ha esaminato l’influenza dei colori nelle opere d’arte sul loro valore di vendita all’asta. Le opere prevalentemente blu attirano offerte più alte del 18,57% e hanno una maggiore probabilità di essere vendute rispetto alle altre. Anche le opere principalmente rosse vengono valutate il 17,28% in più.

According to artnet News’ Tim Schneider, researchers Marshall Ma, Charles N. Noussair and Luc Renneboog of the CentERlab at Tilburg relied on data from the Blouin Art Sales Index to track 5,500 abstract works sold at auction between 1994 and 2017. In order to focus on paintings’ hue, the trio excluded works with competing aesthetic properties such as figuration, geometric patterns and non-rectangular canvas shapes. The final pool, the team writes in the study, consisted mainly of “single-color non-figurative abstract paintings” in the style of Abstract Expressionism. (Think of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman’s Color Field canvases.)

L’effetto dei colori è sorprendente:

For every standard-deviation increase in blue pigment beyond what the authors describe as a “benchmark white,” sale prices rose by 10.6 percent. For red-heavy works, this figure was closer to 4.2 percent. Translated into dollar values, the extra edge afforded by blue and red hues was substantial. Schneider notes that for every standard-deviation increase in blue, prices jumped by around $53,600. Comparatively, red paintings enjoyed a nearly $21,200 price boost for every standard-deviation increase in color.

I ricercatori hanno poi condotto un ulteriore esperimento che ha confermato i risultati emersi dall’analisi delle vendite nelle aste:

In addition to analyzing previous auction records, the economists recruited around 500 students for an experiment that measured emotions associated with specific colors in paintings. Asked to view selected works on a digital monitor, participants rated their emotional responses, ranked paintings in terms of preference and, finally, took part in a simulated auction. The researchers write that they chose volunteers from three universities located in China, the United States and the Netherlands in an attempt to offset any color bias attributed to one specific country of origin. Across the board, participants appeared to follow the same trend exhibited by real-life auctions, bidding almost 20 percent more than average for heavily blue and red paintings.

Le ragioni dell’influenza dei colori sull’attrazione che esercitano le opere d’arte sono ancora poco chiare:

…but as the authors explain, red is often associated with feelings of adventure, aggression, power, arousal, bravery and excitement. Blue, on the other hand, connotes dignity, poise, reserve, relaxation, intellect and comfort. Noussair and Renneboog’s findings may add a semblance of scientific rigor to an often unpredictable market.