Let’s take a closer look at how art

Let’s take a closer look at how artists use color hierarchically and in relation to broader compositional considerations. In this Cezanne, the pears are the focus. They’re the objects. They’re in the center and they overlap the table, partially obscuring it so they win out over the table. And the use of color is making a contribution, too. The pears are yellow and green, the table orange and green. Now, at first, you might think orange and green should have greater contrast because yellow and green are analogous and there’s red in orange and green and red are complements. So what’s going on? Well, for one thing the yellow and green in the pears is more highly saturated than the orange and green in the tabletop. Why? Because, the green has a bit of orange in it and the orange has some green. And the green and orange are also very similar in value. While the yellow and green of the pears has a higher value contrast. And the value contrast of the pears to the ground is accentuated by these thin slivers of dark green related to the pears’ edges. On the underside of the pears, these act as cast shadow. Higher saturation and value contrast add up to focal zone.