George Bellows’painting Dempsey and Firpo (1924) depicts a climactic, deciding moment in the boxing match, where Firpo the boxer flips his opponent Dempsy out of the ring and wins the round. In depicting this intense moment, the artist uses colors to deliver the excitement and chaos dramatically. The warm and cool tones are blending harmoniously and rhythmically.
The warm tones of red, yellow and orange colors seen on the boxers’ skin, the ring light and parts of the crowd, are the stronger color tones; they convey a heated temperature of human flesh and emotion. They also indicate where the action and commotion is.
The cool tones of blues and purples (in clothing) and greys (background walls and ceiling) give the scene depth and variety. The neutrals, such as white (boxing ring ropes and straps, the umpire’s shirt), browns (the spectators’ clothing, faces) and blacks (shoes and hair) provides an ambiance of the crude and cruel reality, where the winner takes it all. The warm colors are stronger in temperature, while the cool and neutral colors are more muted and duller, allowing the central action stand out theatrically. The interplay of colors creates a mood of dynamic intensity that grasps the nature of boxing as a relentless brutal spectacle. While the spectators are portrayed in at best half-faced mobs gazing, cheering and pointing at the action in the ring, the two boxers are clearly the focal point of the painting. Both are semi-naked, with muscular, lengthy arms and legs cutting cross each other, conveying a mood of aggression and hostility. Firpo, the winner, is portrayed as just successfully giving a punch at his opponent; his muscular limbs shine with sanguine orange tone, his face in dark shadows. Dempsey, who is being knocked out of the ring, appears sallow and pale by comparison. Overall speaking, the use of color in this painting achieves a vibrating, explosive atmosphere in which passion for a heated brutal game is celebrated.
