The Elegance & Power of Middle Values in Painting

by David Rankin

In order to help you understand this subject of middle values better, I’ve selected a number of paintings from artists of the 1800s. The focus of your attention and evaluation in each painting will simply be, “Where are the darkest darks?”

However . . . I am not referring to black.

When I use the term “darkest dark”, I am simply referring to the darkest value used in a painting. In many cases the darkest value in a painting may in fact be a middle value. It’s just that in training watercolor painters, I have to get them used to a more accurate assessment of values. And all too often they interpret darkest dark to mean black. In some of these paintings you will see how the darkest dark is nowhere near as dark as black.

Unloading Plaster Watercolor and Gouache John Singer Sargent

I’ve created this graphic to help identify precisely what we are looking for in each painting.

David’s Value Comparison Guide

1. The Darkest Elements: The first rectangle on the left consists of bot…