I’m back to my studio and blogging with a brown color palette! Selected from a picture of the famous Impressionist Edgar Degas, these warm and tranquil brown colors will make you focus on your work in the office. Although it’s not his well-known painting of ballet dancers, Degas captured a moment at the cotton office in 19th century New Orleans.
Brown Palette
Warm Colors from Cotton Office
Maybe many of you’re going back to your usual workplaces. I’m already back to my studio after pretty long working-at-home days in spring.
Edgar Degas is famous for his “ballet dancers”. Since I’ve never seen his paintings of workplace before, this picture looked fresh to me and caught my eyes.
Although he didn’t paint dancers at this office, Degas captured the atmosphere and make it frozen on the picture like he did with other paintings.
I’m wondering who the old man with a black silk hat is. He doesn’t work among all those office workers! Is he a client of this company and waiting for a person in charge? How about the man reading newspaper who doesn’t work either? “Imagine” is one of the best things when we look at the pictures.

A Cotton Office in New Orleans by Edgar Degas | image source: Wikiart
Brown color palette for warm office
- CMYK: 25, 31, 67, 0 | 38, 62, 90, 0 | 51, 63, 96, 9 | 50, 76, 95, 17 | 64, 63, 96, 25
- Web: #CAAF63, #AE7232, #8A632B, #854928, #625329
- Mood: warm and tranquil, not too light or heavy
Today’s colors are (sort of) tranquil like the previous palette but more warm-toned with brown.
I can’t say I always like brown. Sometimes it looks a bit boring and too neutral. But brown is very useful when you make palettes – mostly it goes well with other colors, like most people love coffee.
The office workers look busy (except two people who don’t work) while being surrounded by these warm brown and olive green.
I changed the way of displaying palette for today’s article, by combining the palette with the original painting. Hope you like it!
I think this brown color palette from office would be good when it’s actually applied to offices or workplaces. Neutral brown will make you calm and focus on work. You can add a point color for a small area if you want something vivid to make you feel brighter sometimes.
Although Degas is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, he rejected the term, preferring to be called a realist, and did not paint outdoors as many Impressionists did. Degas was a superb draftsman, and particularly masterly in depicting movement, as can be seen in his rendition of dancers and bathing female nudes.
As usual, I want you to take a rest with another painting of Degas, [Three Dancers in an Exercise Hall]. Many of Degas‘s paintings expressed “dancers in exercise” and this is one of them.
What I love the most is the window with a view. It reminds me of my room window of airbnb accommodation in Paris a few years ago. The window makes the dancers’ moment of movement shiny.
In South Korea most of the galleries open in this month. I’ll check what exhibitions they present but am not sure if I visit galleries soon. I can discover untact cultural entertainment instead and write blog articles.
Maybe I’ll be back with more vivid colors than today’s brown color palette for the next.
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Renoir’s tranquil colors: green & blue from the woods
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Extract color palette from image: by Pantone Studio

Three Dancers in an Exercise Hall by Edgar Degas | image source: Wikiart
Really appreciate you sharing this blog. Much obliged. Erinna Thebault Buschi Petra Gottfried Hoover
Thanks for leaving a comment. Have a happy day!
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Happy to hear it! Have a good day 🙂