The purpose of this study was to examine the psychology of colors and the elements of the colors related to art therapy in expressionist works. The characteristics of expressionism and the psychology of colors were investigated to lay the theoretical ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the psychology of colors and the elements of the colors related to art therapy in expressionist works. The characteristics of expressionism and the psychology of colors were investigated to lay the theoretical foundation for the study, and theories of the concept of art therapy and color therapy were reviewed to build another theoretical groundwork for the study.
The symbolicity of colors in expressionist art works was analyzed, and the colors of the works were classified into primary and secondary categories to investigate the color psychology of the two categories. And the psychotherapy-related elements of the colors were checked. A survey was conducted on college students to make a statistical analysis of the psychotherapy-related elements of expressionism perceived by them to prove the objective validity of its psychotherapy-related components.
The findings of the study were as follows:
The characteristics of expressionist works could be categorized into six: 'anxiety and fear,' 'loneliness and depression,' 'instinctive inner language,' 'a dynamic sense of existence and freedom,' 'the inner imaginary world' and 'contrastive images of life.' Artists were selected according to the classification, and the color psychology of their works was analyzed. And it's found that the expressionists unveiled their own inner world mostly through colors, and there was multiple psychology even in the same color. 'Empathy and identification,' 'catharsis' and 'insight(self-reflection)' were identified as the psychotherapy-related elements of their works that seemed to have the largest impact on the psychology of viewers. As a result of making a statistical analysis of the collected survey data in relation to the three factors, the following findings were given:
First, the largest number of the students investigated felt that there were very strong or moderate-level characteristics of 'empathy and identification' in Munch's works(63.2%), followed by Franz Marc(53. 7%), Kirchner(44.3%), Emil Nolde(37.2%), Wassily Kandinsk y(29%) and Erich Heckel(27.4%). It seemed that they felt lots of sympathy toward Munch's works since he made use of strong line and colors to describe a violent emotion. As for gender gaps in their views of 'empathy and identification,' the students who were explained about the works of the artists took a different view of the works of Emil Nolde and Wassily Kandinsky according to gender. In the case of the students who weren't explained about them, there were little gender gaps in their view of every artist's works. Concerning differences by major, the students who majored in art, physical education and music responded more sensitively to art than the others who majored in other fields of study.
Second, the largest number of the students felt 'catharsis' or 'very strong catharsis' in the works of Munch(39.3%), followed by Franz Marc(37.4%), Kirchner(35%), Emil Nolde(30%), Wassily Kandinsky(29 %) and Erich Heckel(23%). Yet the number of students who felt catharsis in their works was similar in general, which indicated that the students found catharsis in their art works while they appreciated them. There were little gender gaps in that regard. By major, those who majored in art, physical education and music felt more catharsis in the works than the others who didn't.
Third, the greatest number of students felt that there was a characteristic of 'insight' in the works of Munch and Kirchner, and every student felt some degree of insight in every work, though there were some gaps in statistical values. Insight refers to having an objective and correct understanding of oneself or one's own problems, and that usually appears after catharsis. So the finding that the students felt insight in the works as one of the psychotherapy-related elements seemed to imply that they went through the stage of self-reflection after experiencing empathy and catharsis.
The rates of the students who found the works to be extraordinari ly or moderately characterized by the three psychotherapy elements were between a low of 15 percent and a high of 75 percent. Therefore the statistical results seemed to be very significant.
In conclusion, the application of the above-mentioned expressionist works to art therapy is expected to win a great sympathy from viewers or learners who draw a picture based on the works, to boost their catharsis and insight and ultimately to have a good psychotherapy effect on their ego-integration, since the color contrast and unique color psychology of the works that are more distinctive than those of the works of any other artists makes it possible for them to take a look at the inner world of the artists.
This study is expected to be of use to those who intend to provide art therapy by making use of expressionism, and thereby to pave the way for color therapy.