| Introduction
Green is the color of life, of plants and of
spring. Green is the color of the seasonal renewal and the triumph of
spring over cold winter and thus of Hope and Immortality. The Chinese
associate green (and black) with the female Yin - the passive and
receiving principle. Yellow, on the other hand, is associated with the
male Yang - the active and creative principle.
Green can be produced by mixing blue and yellow (additive mixing) and
thus unifies the spiritual aspect of blue and the emotional warmth of
yellow. Both of these aspects bring about growth and wisdom. Green is also
known to connotate lack of experience.
Nature and the color green has been revived in Impressionism partly
because of the advent of tubes for pigments which made it possible to
paint directly on location. Monet uses in this painting the color of hope
together with the symbol of a bridge. The bridge stands for uniting
peoples and revives hope for peaceful future. Bridge and rainbow are
similar in their meaning, the rainbow symbolizing the bridge between
Heaven and Earth and thus connecting the material world with the realm of
the divine.
Color green in the Alchemy
Solvents for gold were named "Green Lion"
[external link] or "Green Dragon" by the alchemists. Such liquids
were instrumental in the beginning of the alchemistic Opus Magnum.
Transparent green crystal symbolized the "secret fire" which represented
the living spirit of substances. |