08 May, 2019

Art Inspired Color Palettes-According to LiLu

Art Inspired Color Palettes

Never buy a piece of art because it matches your interior...buy it because it speaks to your heart. Art should be something that you love.
If you already own a piece of art you love, however, you can highlight it by designing a color scheme that allows your art to sing! Today LiLu is sharing art inspired colors palettes based on our most popular art pin from Pinterest.
Curious what we are pinning? Feel free to follow LiLuMpls on Pinterest.

The Right Color Palette

While there is no single "right" color palette, today we will share a few successful recipes for creating a color palette that will allow your artwork to sing.
There are four key art-inspired color palettes that can all highlight your artwork:
A light neutral color palette
A monochromatic color palette
A dark neutral color palette
A complementary color palette
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Light Neutral Color Palette

Light neutrals are soothing and serene. When selecting a light neutral use the artwork as a guide. Because the main background color in this piece of art is green, I choose slightly blushy neutrals. They lean a little pink. Because red the complementary color to green the blushy tones of these particular neutrals will make this artwork look more vibrant and lively.
If you have no idea what a complementary color is there are plenty of color wheels online like this one you can consult.
Want to find out more about soothing color palettes. Check out this blog.
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Monochromatic Color Scheme

What does monochromatic mean? It means using varying shades of the same color in a room with virtually no other color. It can be a very successful look.
Here we used the background color of our most pinned image, green our shade. If we use this color palette with this piece of art the flowers within the piece will stand out and be highlighted within the space. This will highlight the vibrancy of the painting.
Read more on green color palettes here.
Art-inspired-color-scheme-dark-neutral-interior-designer-minneapolis.jpg

Dark Neutral Color Palette

If you have a colorful piece of art or one that is medium to light in value, you might find a dark neutral color palette will set off your canvas in an extraordinary way.
While I wouldn't want an entire home of all charcoals and dark grays, I think using these dark colors on the walls in a room where this artwork is displayed would be beautiful. The painting would literally glow. If you would feel overwhelmed by the all dark palette you could use an accent color of the deepest tone on one wall where you hang your art.
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A Lively Color Palette

One of the best ways to create a lively room is to use a complementary color palette. Here we have taken the tinted blue/green in the background of this artwork and paired it with a raspberry pink as the accents in this color scheme. They will add a lively attitude to the main neutral in this scheme and the dark purple can be used to ground the entire room.
A color palette like this can be used to create visual rhythm in an interior. Carefully planning where pops of color appear to lead your eye to the artwork is a key tool for success for this color scheme.

See More

For more inspiration on color schemes please read these blog posts.
The Perfect Blues
Hawaii Inspired Color Schemes
Coral Color Schemes

Comments on Art Inspired Color Palettes-According to LiLu
  1. Linda Merrill says:

    Hi Lisa – wonderful way to show how art can inspire so many different color palettes depending on the mood you want to set!

  2. Janet Lorusso says:

    Such pretty colors! And great suggestions for palettes to compliment the art!

  3. Christine Kohut Interiors says:

    I like them all!

  4. Jana Donohoe says:

    Excellent post explaining the different uses of color to highlight your art. I really love all these color palettes you put together. Gorgeous art work btw!

  5. Deborah Main says:

    Love this post!!! It’s so helpful to anyone collecting art and decorating a room. For the One Room Challenge, we had an artist friend Roi James loan us a powerful modern piece, but the rest of the art was ours. Once I put a rust accent color in the room, I snatched one of our fave pieces from our living room, an antique Chinese embroidery which brought out the colors in the room. I guess it then was a “lively color palette”. :)
    I really love the sophisticated graphics that you use on your blog! Did you create them or hire someone? Your blog has such a gorgeous presentation and helpful tips, that I love coming back to it.

    1. LiLu Design Team says:

      Thanks! We did have a graphic designer help with templates for our blog!

  6. Terri L Davis says:

    I liked the way you used different color schemes with the same art to create various moods in the room!

  7. Julie says:

    I agree about not buying art just because it “goes”. However, I have found that the pieces that speak to me could easily be incorporated into my home. One of my goals is to buy an original piece for my 45th birthday. We have some amazing and valuable prints, but no originals. Good post.

  8. Sheri Bruneau says:

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on a colour palette with art. I loved how you showed how it changes the mood.

  9. Kari says:

    Great post! My favorite is the light neutral.

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