Selecting Tonal Range

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High Key

A high key painting is one in which the majority of colors fall within the lighter end of the tonal spectrum. That is to say, the picture is primarily light. While shadows fall within the middle range and are full of color due to reflected light. Some small darks may exist, but they are usually not equal to black, unless they depict an area beyond the light source. Such works often depict the effects of full sunlight outdoors.

An example of this would be "Femme du Caire a sa Porte" by Gerome, where the wall of the building is awash with sunlight. The woman standing in the doorway is in shadow, yet she is full of medium-tone color because of the reflected light that fills this shadow area. The exception is the dark doorway, where the interior is blocked from the effects of the sun. Notice that within the light area, the cast shadows are not a dark value, but rather a cooler color. A high key painting is limited in the number of dark shadows because of reflected light filling those areas. Because the light is not hitting the shadow area directly, the temperature of the shadow is effected to a greater degree than the value. Thus form is created by differences in color temperature instead of tonal shift. Later on, the impressionists began applying this principle in some of their work outdoors, as in this work by Charles Ebert from around 1910, "Monhegan Cove." Notice that the shadow areas are all blue and of a medium tone.

High key can also be acheived through the portrayal of objects with predominantly high value local color: whites, beiges, yellows, and other pastels. You can see how, along with the strong sunlight and reflected light in the shadow areas, the dominant light hues in this piece by Alma-Tadema create the high key. Title: "The Year's at the Spring, All's Right with the World." See how color selection communicates the time of year and attitude depicted in the title.

The other aspect of high key painting is the effect of strong direct light on objects which have a light local color. The glare of direct light can wash out highlights of light local colors making them appear as flat areas of white. The painting by Gerome above comes close to this on the light colored wall, but the effect is taken to a beautiful extreme by Lord Leighton in "Invocation." The young woman holds aloft the white cloth to drape her head which is illumined from behind by the sun. Yet the sun does not throw her face into the depths of shadow, but fills it with reflected light so that it glows in an almost divine light. Such wash out or halo effects as appear on the cloth were often used in the Glare Aesthetic but usually within a more full tonal range, where shadows are often in the dark tonal extreme and very few mid tones exist. The emotional effects of high key painting can be varied. The effects of mid day summer sun can be very positive and calming for people, especially those who are light sensitive. But the use of high key tonal compositions to depict spiritual themes can also arouse intense emotions.

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