Color Aesthetics and Context-Dependency

Researchers have been investigating image features to assess objects’ aesthetic quality for many years. However, the question of context-dependency of color aesthetics remains questionable. The current paper examines the context dependency of essential variables affecting aesthetic pleasantness - color harmonies and color impressions, on the example of art and fashion domains. For the experiments, we used a data set that includes a subset of the best artworks of all time - 1276 paintings of 10 artists from different movements and periods and a data set of 10,000 most liked fashion images. Based on our observations, we concluded that certain color impressions or associations are partially influenced by context and partially universal. However, color harmony is, to a large degree, universal. These findings can be of great use for fields dealing with aesthetics, such as ecommerce, marketing, architectural and interior design, product design, fashion, web design, art, and merchandising.