Red, yellow, and blue may be the preferred color scheme for the 5-and-under set, but that doesn't mean that the heart of the color wheel is lacking in sophistication. Artists of the De Stijl movement in the 1920s including Piet Mondrian and Gerrit Rietveld, which also influenced members of the Bauhaus, were so enamored of primary colors that they restricted their palette to only red, yellow, blue, black, white and gray.
While I freely admit that primary colors can evoke a kindergarten or (worse) the 80s, they can also be classic, playful, modern and absolutely all grown-up.
TOP ROW:
1. A painted collage by De Stijl architect Theo van Doesburg, 1925
2. On View: De Stijl Designer Gerrit Rietveld
3. Mondrian-Inspired Homes
4. From Readers: Maude's Mondrian Kitchen
5. Guesthouse of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
MIDDLE ROW:
6. A Fresh Take on a Primary Color Interior
7. Naseem's Back Bay Live / Work Space
8. The Family Home of Architect Ernö Goldfinger
9. My own primary-colored dining room
10. Primary Colors: Christopher Coleman — Angel Sanchez's Apartment
BOTTOM ROW:
11. Joseph Albers Nesting Tables At Home
12. Rug by Anni Albers from DWR
Images: 1, Rijswijk/Amsterdam, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, via Wikimedia Commons; 2, Abbeville Press; 3, Frankie Norstad for Susan Diana Harris; 5, Siftung Bauhaus Dessau; 6, Zane Williams via Contemporist; 7, Kyle Freeman; 8, ©NTPL/Dennis Gilbert; 9, Sarah Rainwater; 10, Christopher Coleman
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I did like kindergarten but have no want to return to the 80's.
Everything except the kitchen with the bowl of fruit looks like a kid's room to me. :( But I like this kind of post!! It's very inspiring!!
I just noticed somethine interesting. Newrly all these examples stick with strong geometric shapes when using primary colors. Was that a selector bias, or is that the more common WAY to use primaries??
I can easily envision a blue and white room (walls, trim, some furniture) with a lot of red pieces (sofa, chairs) and yellow accents (vases, art, pillows) that could easily be much softer and more traditional in style... doesn't anybody do that?? Just curious.
#4 (the dining room) is too cute and I love how #6 and 7 softened the look.
To me, these colors do best in a school/cafeteria/workspace setting rather than a living room. Too energetic. (Something to think about for my own dining space, though... I like the idea of Mondrian with breakfast. Hmm.)