I just learned something that I've been intending to learn about music for a long time now. I've noticed that when I listen to certain songs that I would characterize as melancholy, I hear a particular pattern to the way the sounds progress that distinguishes them from songs that would make me feel happy. Not being a student of music theory, I had no idea what this pattern could be called, and equally few ideas as to how to even ask what it might be called for fear of just sounding insane ("You know that thing that some songs have that make them feel sad? What is that called?"). Luckily, one of my roommates is knowledgeable about musical composition, and completely by chance, helped me determine that the pattern I was hearing is sustained chords resolving in minor. She explained that major chords (and their simple cousins, power chords) generally make for the happier, more upbeat songs, whereas minor chords tend to generate angsty, frustrated, uneasy sounds. When you mix them up, implying the hope of a major chord, only to resolve in minor, you get melancholy. (Example: I perceive Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy Part 2" as more emotive than "Two-Headed Boy" because Part 2 resolves in minor, whereas "Two-Headed Boy" is in major--it's a serious achievement for me to be able to finally vocalize that difference)
How does this apply to visual art, you ask?
Well, after being enthralled by my new-found discovery for several minutes (going through my sad mood playlists and identifying that indeed they all resolve in minor, in truly fascinated geek fashion), I then naturally started thinking about painting, and how important music is for me when I paint. I often find that the kind of music I listen to when I paint ends up affecting the kind of painting I end up doing that day. So I thought, "what formally in painting gives me the strongest sense of feeling?" Color of course. So what would be the relationship between colors and chords? I think I'd associate warm colors with major chords and cool colors with minor chords. If this is an accurate association, one could conceivably paint a painting that resolves in minor! I'm ecstatic about this!
Think about it: If you wanted to get really technical, you could assign a different color to every chord and just paint the composition of a song, ideally producing the same emotional effects in the viewer of the painting as the song gives its listener. You could listen to a song, hear the progression of the chords, and be able to harness the feeling you get from that musical composition, translating it into the visual by means of color! Did Rothko know about this?
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