Portraiture as a Colour-Led Language
When I paint portraits shaped by tarot colour symbolism, I’m not illustrating the Major Arcana directly. Instead, I use colour as the emotional architecture of the figure. Each hue becomes a guide—an intuitive force that blends surreal expression with symbolic meaning. The result is a form of portraiture where faces become thresholds, atmospheres behave like omens and botanical guardians echo the hidden grammar of the cards. Tarot becomes a palette, not a map, allowing the Major Arcana to dissolve into contemporary visual language.
Red as the Pulse of Desire, Will and Awakening
Red in the tarot carries the energy of fire, courage and life-force. It appears in cards like Strength, the Emperor and the Magician as a symbol of instinct and agency. In my portraits, red becomes a glowing internal ember. A cheek may hold a warm flame beneath the skin, or a mirrored petal may burn with soft heat. These accents don’t shout—they activate. Red transforms the portrait into a field of bravery, revealing the moment when a figure decides, asserts, or awakens. The surreal atmosphere allows this emotional fire to flicker through unexpected places: veins of light, seeds near the throat, a blush that behaves like a prophecy.
Blue as Inner Knowing, Intuition and Silence
Blue has always lived in the intuitive realm of the Major Arcana—The High Priestess, Justice, Temperance. It carries both clarity and mystery. When I paint with blue, I let it behave like quiet knowledge. It pools in shadows, folds around the face, or appears as a cool halo behind a seed-like centre. Blue slows the portrait’s rhythm, shifting it into a contemplative register. It becomes the colour of self-trust, a surreal stillness that speaks more clearly than logic. In this atmosphere, the face appears both present and withdrawn, as though listening to an inner message.
Yellow as the Moment of Insight and Illumination
Yellow pierces the tarot like a sudden bloom of clarity. It belongs to The Sun, the Fool’s optimism and the Magician’s spark of consciousness. In my portraits, yellow appears as dreamlike illumination—soft light behind the cheekbone, a glow emerging from the petal-crown, a radiance that feels almost sentient. It represents the exact moment when understanding breaks through confusion. Rather than brightening the portrait, yellow refines it. It gives the surreal face an inner sunrise, a shift from hesitation to recognition.
Green as the Grounded Heart
Green threads through the Empress, the Star and the restorative cards of the Arcana. It is the colour of harmony, emotional rooting and regenerative breath. When I use green in portraiture, it becomes a mossy aura around the face or a botanical echo that steadies the entire composition. Roots curl near the jawline. Petals hold deep forest tones. The portrait feels anchored, as though held by something older and wiser than the figure itself. Green brings emotional ecology into the image—a reminder that inner worlds grow, heal and reseed themselves.
Purple as the Threshold of Spirit and Shadow
Purple is the liminal bridge between the known and the mysterious. It belongs to The Moon, Judgment and the High Priestess’s veiled realm. In my portraits, purple appears as a diffused nocturnal glow or as mirrored petals that shift like spirit-signals. It blurs the face just enough to evoke dream-state perception. Purple gives the portrait an otherworldly intelligence—the sense that the figure is listening to two worlds at once. This duality is central to tarot’s major archetypes, and surreal portraiture allows it to manifest through light rather than literal illustration.
White as the Essence of Renewal
White in tarot is the colour of rebirth—the purity of Death’s transformation, the open horizon of the Fool, the cleansing breath of Judgment. In my portrait work, white behaves like a reset: a soft haze behind the head, a luminous root-node, or a reflective petal that holds untouched clarity. It offers spaciousness around the surreal figure, creating the sense of beginning again. White becomes a silent ritual of renewal.
Black as the Sacred Unknown
Black is the container for every other colour. It holds the mystery of The Moon, the depth of the Hermit’s cave, the quiet power of the void between cycles. In my portraits, black is not heavy—it is soft, velvety, contemplative. It frames the face with gentleness, turning the darkness into fertile soil for symbols to bloom. Black becomes a grounding force, allowing surreal details to glow, invert and shift within its protective field.
Why Tarot Colour Symbolism Continues to Shape My Portraits
The Major Arcana offers emotional universes, not fixed archetypes. By translating their symbolism into colour-driven portraiture, I create images that feel alive, intuitive and contemporary. Colour becomes the way tarot breathes inside the artwork. It shapes atmosphere, emotional resonance and the quiet language of symbolic silhouettes. Through surreal portraiture, the cards shed their borders and become inner landscapes—worlds where emotion, light and intuition merge into a single face that speaks through colour rather than form.
