Paint colors for your home, inside and out
19th-century French painting · art-to-room palette
This palette comes from Renoir's "Two Sisters (On the Terrace)" from 1881, now at The Art Institute of Chicago. It pairs a soft sage wall with slate blue, olive, ochre and a single red-orange note, and it suits living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms that get decent daylight.
Quick answer
Put the pale sage (#BAC0AF) on the walls and the ochre (#AE8F66) on the main furniture or a large rug. Use olive (#8E9163) for curtains or cushions, and keep the red-orange (#BE4E4A) for small accents like a vase or a chair.
Measured from the image and ordered by how much of the canvas they cover. LRV is how much light a color reflects, from 0 for black to 100 for white.
Left, every pixel of the canvas snapped to its nearest palette color. Right, the detail where each color is strongest.
The nearest color from each brand. “Near-identical” and “Very close” are hard to tell apart on a wall; with “Similar”, compare a sample with the painting. Brands with nothing close are left out.
| Painting color | Closest paints | LRV | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
Slate Terrace Blue#657E8D |
|
20 | Small accents, art, accessories |
Pale Garden Sage#BAC0AF |
|
51 | Main walls |
Soft Olive Green#8E9163 |
|
27 | One small textile |
Midnight Violet Navy#343757 |
|
4 | Small accents, art, accessories |
Warm Straw Ochre#AE8F66 |
|
30 | Bed, sofa, curtains |
Deep Poppy Red#BE4E4A |
|
17 | One bold piece |
Paint names belong to their brands. Matches are measured from screen colors and are approximate; Light & Pigment is not affiliated with any paint brand.
The wall color shifted for the light it will live in. Check the version closest to your room before buying a sample.
#AFB7B1North light is cool and flat, so the sage wall (LRV 51) will read a little grayer and cooler than the swatch. It still looks calm, but it will feel more muted. Pair it with the warm ochre and red-orange to keep the room from feeling chilly.
#C9C8B3Strong south light warms the sage and brings out its green undertone. At LRV 51 it stays soft and does not glare, so it works well on a large, sunny wall. Keep the darker slate and navy to textiles or trim so the room stays open.
#AB9F81Warm evening bulbs push the sage toward yellow-green and make it feel cozier and slightly darker. The ochre and red-orange will glow, while the slate blue and navy will look deeper. Choose bulbs on the softer side if you want the wall to stay fresh.
Pick which painting color goes on the walls, the big furniture and the bold piece. Floors, shadows and light follow your choices.
Wood takes a warm mid-brown and the rug border takes Soft Olive Green in every combination.
Details from the painting next to the colors and materials that carry them into a room.
A card with the painting, all 6 colors and a room scheme. Pin it, or take it to the paint store.
You can, but #343757 has an LRV of 4, so it reads very dark and absorbs most light. It suits a small room, an alcove or a single feature wall with good lighting. For most rooms, it works better in curtains, a sofa or a painted door.
Use it sparingly. The red-orange (#BE4E4A) covers only about 4% of the painting, so a few small pieces such as a pillow, a vase or a single chair are enough. Its LRV of 17 makes it a strong point of contrast against the pale sage wall.
Start with the sage wall and the olive, which share a green undertone and sit well side by side. Add slate blue (LRV 20) in textiles or a low piece of furniture, and ochre in wood tones or a rug. Keep the navy and red-orange for small touches.
Image: The Art Institute of Chicago, Public domain (CC0). Palette, posterized image, details and room views generated by Light & Pigment from that image. Colors look different on screen than on a wall, so always test a sample.
