Saturday, October 23, 2010

Purple - the Colour of the Senses

The colour purple means something special for me. On one hand it is the colour of the holy, spiritual and was reserved to be worn by royals only and the high ranking clerical staff. In some countries and way back into history purple was and is the colour of mourning.

According to Feng Shui rules purple should not be used too often and especially not on walls because it could trigger blood diseases. The only possibility to use purple in a room is for healing purposes - remember the amethyst being one of the strongest healing crystals. Purple has alway been associated with mystery.

But purple has also been connected to poison and rage, it has been an attribute of homosexuality, is associated with contrition and all kinds of extremes. Btw - Dior created a perfume called "Poison" which was filled into a wonderful dark purple glass bottle. I find these components of psychologically tinted attributes extremely interesting. This might also be the reason why the bourgeois, the bores and deadheads of this world consider purple being flagitious, voluptuous, euphuistic and simply vulgar - at least in the times when I was a child. Purple was not a colour a decent girl would be wearing. Today a ridiculous interpretation! Thank heaven the times have changed...

But some tiny bits and pieces of this former interpretation may have survived in a rebellious mind because I find this colour extremely inspiring and juicy. Isn't it the forbidden that intrigues us most? And what do you think about the colour purple?

 original image source and with courtesy of 

And what would go best in this room with the wonderful purple sofa? One of my favourite paintings Haleakala, inspired by Maui's dream landscapes.


"Haleakala"
(from the Magic Landscapes Series)
silk, 21" x 40"
©Petra Voegtle
This silk painting has been inspired by the breathtaking landscapes on the Hawaiian Islands, especially the Haleakala National Park. You can read more about it here if you like and what's so special about this painting.
More room examples you can find here.
 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Petra, In garden schemes, I love borders 'shot through' with purple foliage or flowers. They add such drama and offset other pastels in an exciting way.

Your painting has such wonderful plummy tones and accentuates the lush, comfort of the sofa beneath.

Unknown said...

Thank you, dear Edith. I love purple in blooms and blossoms very much as well. Check out my colour blog under the keyword "purple" - there is quite a bunch of flowers all made up in wonderful purple hues:
http://vyala.blogspot.com/search/label/purple

K&B by the Sea said...

I LOVE purple! It's always been my favourite colour. I had a lavender bedroom growing up, and we have three purple rooms in our house now.

Your painting looks fantastic above the purple sofa :-)

Thanks for entering my giveaway. Good luck!

Unknown said...

Kelly, thank you so much for your nice compliment!!!:-)

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