Why yellow? Yellow is the color closest to the light. In his color theory, Goethe writes the following about the color yellow: Yellow is the color closest to the light. It arises through the finest moderation of the light, be it with the help of opaque media or through subdued reflection from white surfaces. … When yellow is at its highest purity, it always carries with it the nature of clear light, and it has a cheerful, awake, kindly seductive quality. … This is how experience shows that yellow makes a warm and pleasant impression. Therefore, it is also used in painting for what is both illuminated and active.

You will notice this warming effect most vividly if you, – especially during gray winter days – look at a landscape through yellow glass. The eye rejoices, the heart expands, the mind is cheered up, it seems to blow immediate heat towards us.Yellow is probably the cockiest of all colors, it stands out, no other color can compete against yellow in attention. That is probably why our warning signs are yellow / black or yellow / red. Some of the paintings only have elements of yellow just to show the meaning of the yellow color, while others are the next “only” yellow.

The exhibition presents paintings in large and small format by the artists: Olle Bonniér, Lena Cronqvist, Ann Edholm, Staffan Hallström, Tommy Hilding, Jarl Ingvarsson, Evert Lundquist, Bjarne Melgaard, Håkan Rehnberg, Johan Scott, Laris Strunke, Ulf Trotzig, Björn Wessman, Anders Widoff, Hans Wigert, Karin Ögren and Barbro Östlihn.

Kristina Möller, curator, Södertälje konsthall.