Chromatic modulation in visual art: a computational perspective

This paper describes a computational approach for analyzing and visualizing the aesthetics of color from the perspective of color theory. Our study is grounded in the works of Johannes Itten, one of the most remarkable theorists of color aesthetics. Our focus lies on the computational analysis of a specific aspect of color usage in paintings, namely modulation. We, therefore, propose the three-dimensional (3-D) color palette, a visualization of the chromatic information of an image in the hue-saturation-lightness space. Using the proposed palette, we derive a set of simple hue-specific descriptors for color modulation. Our experimental results involve a selection of digital reproductions of paintings discussed extensively by Itten. They show that the proposed modulation measures yield results that are consistent with Itten’s comments and explanations. Future work involves further exploration of the proposed 3-D color palette, in terms of its ability to discriminate between different artists and painting styles.