Thesis Statement: Colors can affect a person's mood or behavior.
Certain colors and relationships can be eye irritants, cause headaches, and wreak havoc with human vision. Other colors and color combinations are soothing. Consequently, the appropriate use of color can maximize productivity, minimize visual fatigue, and relax the whole body (Morton "Color and Vision" Yahoo) . Colors can affect a person's mood or behavior. .
The color of kings was purple. For people of power red carpets were rolled out. Some cultures believed that certain colors were thought to have specific healing or energizing powers (Koncius 25). For example, a painting by Jan Van Eyeck (1434) shows a bride in the Renaissance Period wearing a gown of green to show her willingness and fertility to bear children. The Green Man was the god of fertility in Celtic myths. In the present, American culture has changed the signification of green to "heightened sexuality." Green was a sacred color to the Egyptians representing the hope and joy of spring. It is also a sacred color to the Muslims. Japanese Emperor Hirohito's birthday is celebrated as "Green Day" because he loved to garden (Morton "Color and Culture" Yahoo). A million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were searching for food, blue, purple, and black were "color warning signs" of potentially lethal food. Yellow is a symbol of deity in many global religions. In China brides may not wear white to their weddings. It is thought that this color shows mourning. Similarly in India a bride wearing white shows that they are inviting widowhood (Jarmen 46).
Colors give rooms their "mood." That is, they stimulate feeling. Cool colors make rooms feel larger and also bring a feeling of calmness. Warm colors are stimulating and inviting, and are good for making large rooms feel cozier and warmer ("Choosing Color" Yahoo). They say to paint dining room walls black will make eating pleasurable, but really, who would want their dining room walls black? Green conveys vitality which gives .