What's in the Background?

by Rose Ann Bernatovich

What goes on in the background is important. The hue (color), chroma (saturation), and value (the lightness or darkness) of a background can play a large role in creating a comprehensive design or an overall feeling in a painting. Let’s look at a few examples.

The background in Hovsep Pushman’s “When Autumn Is Here”, 1930, works with the foreground to create tranquil harmony.



Hovsep Pushman, “When Autumn Is Here”, 1930

Various complementary colors, like reds and greens, surrounded by yellows and purples fill the background. While the foreground is less chromatic than the background, the wilted flower in the little pot is the most chromatic part of the painting.

Colors from the background are repeated in the foreground, but they have more opacity. This creates a sculptural quality in the foreground Buddha and pot. In contrast, the background depicts an ancient tapestry or mural, making a modern foreground versus a timeworn, devotional background.

The background colors are very sedate in terms of value. By removing the color, we see that the background value is in the mid-range of the greyscale. The darkest darks and lightest lights are reserved for the foreground to create a center of interest.

The brushwork in the foreground is more controlled while the background has a softer more textural quality. Hard edges delineate the foreground and move it forward.

While the background recedes due to its lower contrast it is an integral part of the overall composition. Circles within circles in the background engulf the small Buddha figurine with large halos.

The towering background Buddha hovers over the small foreground Buddha, creating an ethereal, otherworldly quality that sets a spiritual tone for the painting. This still life displays Pushman’s fascination with oriental mysticism and exudes a meditative feeling of peace and calm. 

The background in John William Waterhouse’s Circe Invidiosa (Jealous Circe), 1892, is painted with low chroma burnt red-orange and vibrant blue-greens.


John William Waterhouse, Circe Invidiosa (Jealous Circe), 1892

This lovely complementary color scheme is repeated in the Grecian-style dress and the pale, warm skin tones in the foreground. The only variation in color is the bowl of bright yellow-green poison that Circe is tipping into the water as she intently watches it flow down.

The values in the background are in the darker range of the value scale, whereas the luminous flesh tones in the foreground are the lightest values. Highlights in the feet, water, and bowl lip have slightly lower light values. This use of value and chroma draws our focus to her upper left shoulder, torso, and bowl.

Her dark hair has a faint edge, almost the same value as the loosely painted background. The peacock-themed dress contrasts in hue with the rocks and is darker in value. In comparison, the dress is darker than the water but is the same hue with changes in value and chroma.

Despite the mythological inspiration, the painting has an overall Art Nouveau style in the background created by the organic curves and straight lines in the rocks, trees, and swirling water. This utilizes an interesting combination of diverse sources for the background.

The Greek myth of the Sorceress’ poisoning of her love rival Scylla comes to life and catches Circe in the act in this chromatic painting. 

In Johannes Vermeer’s, “Het Melkmeisje” (The Milk Maid), 1658-1660, the background fits into an overall primary, triadic color scheme of red, blue, and yellow.



Johannes Vermeer’s, “Het Melkmeisje” (The Milk Maid), 1658-1660

While this is an interior scene, it is similar to a landscape in that it has planes that create distance. Our eye travels from the table to the milkmaid, and finally to the background, the window, and assorted objects.

So, the background here is the perspective of the wall behind the milkmaid and the wall on the left that constructs a room to encompass her.

Daylight floods the back wall and window panes creating a sense of space and time. Their values, however, are slightly lower than the highlights in the foreground that flow over the cap, collar, and right arm of the milkmaid.

The shadow areas of the left wall are considerably darker but not the darkest areas of the painting. While the darkest darks are spread throughout the painting the most notable dark is the chromatic blue apron, which is tied up to reveal an equally chromatic red skirt.

The highest contrast is in the muscular arm on the right and pieces of bread near the apron. These areas have contrast in value and chroma that draw attention to the pitcher pouring milk.

However, visually the contrast between the pale yellow background wall and the chromatic dark blue apron draws the most attention. It also creates a halation, or glow, around the figure.

The sharp edge in this area emphasizes the milkmaid in her well-worn clothes and pushed-up sleeves at the drudgery of her mundane chores. The downcast look, heavily shadowed face, and looser brushwork convey an image of invisibility experienced by a hired worker in a wealthy home.

In John Singer Sargent’s, Fumee D'ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris), 1880, the background shifts from cool to warm.



John Singer Sargent, Fumee D'ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris), 1880

The part of the background that appears bluer is actually a lower value, less chromatic orange, which looks blue when placed next to a lighter value, more chromatic orange.

The same bluish colors in the background are also used in the drapery around the neck and sleeves of the shrouded figure, as well as in the rising smoke from the censer (incense burner). This creates chromatic continuity and movement from front to back.

The brushwork in the background layers grayer tones over slightly more chromatic orange tones in the same value range, creating an energetic texture.

Values in the background span from the light to mid-range of the greyscale, providing just enough subtle change in contrast to define the columns and walls.

The lightest area is the top of the figure's veil, which is surrounded by mid-values above and below it. Darker values appear on the face, arms, and in the shadowed areas of the garment. The main contrast in value is found in the rug the figure is standing on and the censer.

Bits of red-orange in the carpet in front of the figure are repeated in the sleeves, lips, and lower-chroma skin tones. This high-chroma, high-contrast rug points directly to the figure, whose robe is a high-value, low-chroma orange that leans towards yellow.

The dark rug by the wall and tiled floor have complementary blue-green and red-orange patterns with mid to dark values. These patterns and their placement create a perspective that directs our gaze to the figure, making her the focal point.

This exotic white street scene with its white-shrouded figure, captures a corner of a large city in a masterful painting by a traveling Sargent. 

 
William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s “The Shepherdess”, 1889, is a Pastourelle drawn from French literature, depicting a romanticized image of the shepherdess.


William-Adolphe Bouguereau, “The Shepherdess”, 1889




An idyllic, pastoral scene with grazing animals, sits quietly in the background. The warmth of the sunlight and the dewy quality make you think about the time of day, perhaps early morning.

In stark contrast to the light background, we have the figure’s dark hair and worn peasant clothing creating a silhouetted effect. In this case, the background and foreground are the highest contrast in the painting. The most chromatic and lightest lights are in the background, and the darkest darks and less saturated colors are in the foreground.

The forearms may appear greenish, but they are a low-chroma orange that looks green next to the higher-chroma background. Her bare feet nearly fade into the dirt path in both chroma and value, bringing more attention to the upper area of the figure.

The brushwork in the background is much looser than the tightly controlled brushwork of the figure and foliage in the foreground. Her soft hair contrasts the hard edge work in the figure's top half while the skirt's lower parts fade into the foliage, creating lost edges.

The left sleeve has the same value and chroma as the hills in the background, making another lost edge. This area creates chromatic movement from the background to the foreground in an otherwise very high-contrast painting.

The serene, nature-themed background works in conjunction with the figure in front relaxing on her stick creating a peaceful harmony and an idealized vision of the shepherdess.

Rembrandt van Rijn, at age 22, painted his “Self-Portrait with Disheveled Hair” in 1628.



Rembrandt van Rijn, “Self-Portrait with Disheveled Hair” in 1628.

 

The background has an angled gradation, with low-chroma oranges transitioning to yellows, shifting from cool to warm as they move from dark to light.

The paint application is thicker in the light areas. These neutral colors are layered on top of a warmer hue, producing a vibrant atmosphere rather than a definitive scene.

This low-chroma, neutral background contrasts and emphasizes the high-chroma red-orange in the light-value areas of the face, neck, and strands of hair.

The illuminated side plane of the face is higher in chroma and value than the nose and lips. This creates the illusion of a beam of light that travels and fades across the planes of the face.

The background light emphasizes his expressively-painted curls. Darker, more defined strokes are used for the hair on the left side, while the strokes soften towards the darker areas of the background on the top and right side of the head.

Notice how the face and shoulders on the right side stand out against the lighter background area due to the contrast in value and sharp edge work. The lightest lights are concentrated at the collar, shoulder, and background light near the shoulder. These lights are in the greyscale's light to lower light range, while the darkest areas are nearly black.

The dark values in the face, hair, and clothing form a dark pattern that creates an aura of mystery. We just see the barest hint of facial features as a kind of teaser for the viewer.

Finally, the lighter and more chromatic areas in the foreground align with the background’s lightest areas, creating a streak of light across the canvas. You can feel the light poking through a window and landing on young Rembrandt to backlight him. 

As you can see there are many ways to use a background to enhance your foreground and overall painting. Backgrounds are not separate entities but work together with the foreground to create whatever effects you desire.

I hope you found inspiration here for your paintings or simply enjoyed reviewing these extraordinary paintings with me.

Please feel free to leave comments and let me know if there is anything you would like to see in future blogs!

Happy Painting,

Rose Ann

The value scale is a Ross Denman scale. Images were sourced from WikiArt, Wikimedia Commons, Google Arts & Culture, The Rijksmuseum, The Clark Museum, and Arthur—My deepest gratitude to all those sources.