Colour as Tarot’s Hidden Language
Tarot does not speak only through archetypes or imagery; it also communicates through colour. Each shade carries emotional temperature, symbolic resonance, and intuitive meaning. Colour shapes how a card feels long before the mind begins to analyse it. In my surreal portraiture, I follow a similar logic. Palette, glow, and tonal contrast create emotional worlds that mirror tarot’s ability to reveal something internal and quietly mystical. Colour becomes a guide into the subconscious—an immediate impression that deepens interpretation.
Red as Fire, Desire, and Sudden Change
In tarot, red signals energy that cannot be ignored. It appears in cards tied to action, passion, and transformation—The Magician, The Tower, Strength. Emotionally, red emphasises urgency, awakening, and inner fire. In my art, red glows through petals, cheeks, or botanical cores, acting as a kind of emotional ignition. It marks the moment where feeling becomes physical, where a portrait shifts from calm to charged. Red becomes a pulse within the surreal space.
Blue as Intuition, Mystery, and Subconscious Flow
Blue belongs to The Moon, The Star, and many emotionally reflective cards. It suggests uncertainty, dream logic, and the subconscious moving quietly beneath clarity. In surreal portraiture, blue creates depth without heaviness. I use it to soften the gaze, extend the atmosphere, and create a veil around the figure. These cool tones invite contemplation rather than decision. They form a space where intuition becomes stronger than explanation.
Green as Inner Knowing and Mystical Perception
Green appears often in cards tied to intuition, nature, and the subtle world between the seen and unseen—The High Priestess, The Empress, and certain botanical-heavy minor arcana. Its symbolism moves between mystery and growth. In my palette, green often shifts toward acid or neon, giving it an electric edge—intuition as vibration rather than stillness. Green in a surreal portrait feels like emotional knowledge rising through the subconscious, a colour that suggests guidance rather than logic.
Yellow as Clarity, Illumination, and Awakening
Yellow radiates from cards tied to enlightenment and vitality—The Sun, Temperance, sometimes Judgement. It signals inner clarity breaking through confusion. In my work, yellow appears in small glows: the centre of a botanical form, a halo of seeds, a warm highlight on the face. These sparks feel like points of understanding within the emotional landscape. Even in dark or surreal environments, yellow introduces direction, lifting the composition into a clearer emotional register.
Black as Mystery, Shadow, and Emotional Depth
Soft black in tarot evokes protection, boundaries, and hidden knowledge. It is the colour of the background—the space where symbols rise into visibility. For tarot readers, black is not absence; it is potential. My portraits use soft black similarly. It frames the figure with gentle shadow, giving weight to the composition without suffocation. It turns the surreal space into an intimate interior room, where subtle feelings can grow without interruption.
Pink as Vulnerability, Inner Warmth, and Emotional Openness
Though not often dominant in traditional tarot decks, contemporary interpretations—and the emotional logic behind the cards—connect pink to softness, heart energy, and emotional honesty. In my portraits, pink is a signature tone: glowing cheeks, luminous botanicals, and soft highlights that feel almost tender. Pink becomes the emotional breath of the portrait, expressing vulnerability without fragility.
Interplay of Colours as Emotional Archetypes
Tarot never relies on a single hue; meaning emerges from interplay. Red beside blue creates tension between desire and intuition. Green layered with black signals mysterious growth. Yellow within shadow suggests awakening inside uncertainty. This chromatic dialogue appears in my surreal work as well. Colours fold into one another, creating emotional contradictions that feel lived rather than theoretical. The palette becomes a symbolic system—an emotional map layered around the figure.
Surreal Portraiture Through the Lens of Tarot Colour Logic
While my art is not tarot illustration, it follows the same atmospheric logic: colour tells the story first. The emotional worlds of my portraits—dreamlike, soft-horror, symbolic—reflect tarot’s ability to reveal without stating, to suggest without defining. Through neon greens, glowing pinks, quiet blues, intense reds, and soft blacks, the portraits evoke energies similar to the Major Arcana. Each artwork becomes a card-like space where colour holds meaning as deeply as imagery.
Colour as Emotional Interpretation
Tarot teaches that interpretation begins with feeling. My surreal portraits embrace this same principle. Colour becomes not just an aesthetic choice but an emotional cue, a symbolic anchor, and a mystical whisper beneath the visible surface. Hue shapes intuition, mood sets the tone, and the quiet logic of colour invites a deeper reading. Through this interplay, both tarot and contemporary surreal art create portals into inner worlds—where emotion, symbolism, and colour meet in a language beyond words.
