As the Songwriter’s Festival approaches Oct. 16-18, the connection between the colorful world of visual artists and the melodic world of musicians is especially meaningful to a person with chromesthesia.
Color in Music
Chromesthesia is a form of synesthesia in which a person hears musical notes and sees predictable colors. The joining of these senses (synesthesia) exists in the other direction, as well, in which seeing colors triggers the perception of sound. Synesthesia is involuntary and is not considered abnormal or a mental condition. Rather, it is a wonderful example of the variety of individual experiences by 4% of the population, of which 1/4 experience chromesthesia specifically.
Billy Joel sees his chromesthesia as a gift not to be taken for granted. “I like the spontaneity and the mystery of it all. It’s very intriguing to me,” Joel is quoted as saying in Psychology Today. The list of musicians with chromesthesia reads like a who’s who in the music world, including: Beyoncé; Billie Eilish; Pharrell Williams; Mary Blige; Leonard Bernstein; Amy Beach; Duke Ellington; Tori Amos; and Stevie Wonder.
Music Inspires Painting
Likewise, some famous visual artists have some form of sound-to-color or color-to-sound synesthesia. Often, visual artists use their trait as an inspiration or tool within their creative processes.
Melissa McCracken, an abstract oil painter in New York, plays certain songs to kick off a painting session. Upbeat pop summons purple and bright pink. Jazz looks like luminous blues, golds and whites. Wassily Kandinsky, experienced both sound-to-color and color-to-sound synesthesia and it changed the course of his life. He abandoned his law career and became an artist after a moving visual color experience was triggered by hearing Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre. Other visual artists with a music-color form of synesthesia are: David Hockney, Jack Coulter and reportedly Vincent Van Gogh based on his letters.
The Power of Our Minds
Non-artistic synesthetes also exist. Richard Feynman, pioneer in quantum computing, was a grapheme-color synesthete. For him colors were associated with letters and numbers. In a 2019 University of Toronto News report, Feynman is quoted as saying, “I see vague pictures of Bessel functions with light-tan J’s, slightly violet-bluish N’s, and dark brown X’s flying around.”
"In My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla," Tesla reported that spoken words or sounds induced moving images in his mind’s eye. Sometimes the images were so vivid, he could not tell if they were real or not.
Art in Rhythm
There were even art movements incorporating the harmonic relationship between color and music. Synchronism was an abstract art movement in which colors were arranged using music principles for composition. For examples, see artists Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Morgan Russell.
The Orphism or Orphic Cubism art movement used bright, prismatic colors and geometric shapes, so that the viewer would experience a sense of rhythm and lyrical harmony similar to music. Artists Robert Delaunay and Sonia Delaunay championed this style.
Lastly, Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), an expressionist art group who used color to invoke specific musical tones and emotions.
Synesthesia even has its own “day.” July 2 is International Synesthesia Awareness Day. You can go to www.synesthesiaawarenessday.com and find a brief description of the various forms of synesthesia.
Local Synesthete
Closer to home, Dripping Springs Art League member, Jenny Swannack has been a synesthete for as long as she can remember. “My particular form of synesthesia is an involuntary association of color with things like letters, numbers and the months of the year.” You can see the influence of her synesthesia in her art. On her website www.jennyswannackart.com check out her “On & Off the Record” art section on old vinyl records. She also has a special page dedicated to her paintings inspired directly by her synesthesia experience.
Songwriters Festival Weekend
Come enjoy the cool vibes of Drippings’ Songwriters Festival this Oct. 16-18. The Art League will bring over 800 pieces of local art to the Art Lounge, a 60’x20’ tent at Mercer & College streets on Saturday and Sunday. You can also enjoy Live Painting at many songwriters stages and will host songwriter/artist interviews through the weekend.
Art and music at Songwriters confirms art is alive and well in Dripping.
For more information about Drippings Springs Art League and the ways they are supporting the Songwriters Festival go to www.artindripping.com/songwriters2026.
