Color Psychology of the Women's Clothing in Selected Paintings of «Tahmasp Shahnameh» Based on the Theory of «Max Loescher»

Problem Definition: 

Color, as one of the important visual elements, has been the Safavid school artists’ focus. The numerous presence of women motifs in «Tahmasap Shahnameh» shows the high status of women in this period. Therefore, utilizing Max Loescher's approach to color psychology, we can study women's clothes in «Tahmasap Shahnameh». The present research is trying to answer these questions: According to Max Loescher's «color psychology» theory, what relationship did the artist use to draw women's clothes in «Tahmasp Shahnameh»? and “Which of the cold or warm colors has the artist been more influenced by”?

 This research aims to identify the psychological ideas of the Safavid artist in drawing the color of women's clothes in «Tahmasp Shahnameh» based on Max Loescher's theory of color psychology.

 This research is qualitative and its method is descriptive-analytical. The data collection has been done using a library-based approach and through note-taking and reading images and tables as well as data analysis. The sampling method has been purposeful and due to the frequent presence of female figures, among the 258 paintings of «Tahmasp Shahnameh», 2 paintings have been selected for study using the mentioned theory.

 According to Max Loescher's color psychology, the artist of the Safavid era used the relationship of balance between cold and warm colors in using the element of color for women's clothes; in other words, he used both cold and warm color groups to color women's clothes. Regarding the current theory, the researched paintings are more colorful than warm colors in terms of color variety and the use of colors, and this shows that the artist of this period was more influenced by cold colors (blue, green). According to the mentioned theory, gray color, which is considered a neutral color, was not used for women's clothes, and textiles were also used to show the status of women.