Red Door – Fine Art Photographs
I have a number of fine art photographs in my portfolio that feature red doors and they are popular. Recently I sold this one which contains one of my favorite compositions, over lapping structures that create a twisting path into the image with a foreground, middle ground and with the “pay off” in the back of the image, in this case a red door. This scene was captured in Windsor, Vermont. More red door photos.
Shown – recently sold framed and matted print. This order was for a 16″ x 20″ print of The Red Door going to a buyer from Albany, GA.
The composition is similar to this composite shot I created from a collection of buildings in Historic Deerfield, MA and an old car photographed in Vermont. Same kind of “what’s around the corner” composition which adds a bit of mystery and leads the eye into the image. Barn Find link
This photograph of at the Wayside Inn, specifically the old grist mill with its bright red door and rustic stone walls has sold a number of times. Red Door at the old grist mill.
A dramatic red door on an old stone grist mill. Wayside Inn, Sudbury, MA
Red Door – The Mount
Here is another red door in the portfolio. An old arched red painted door on a building from the gilded age with grungy, peeling, cracked paint. Outbuilding at The Mount – The Mount is the home of Edith Wharton in Lenox, MA – the Berkshires.Fine art photography by Edward M. Fielding
http://edward-fielding.pixels.com/products/old-red-door-edward-fielding-framed-print.html
Red Door – But what does it mean?
Is it just a striking color for a front door or does a red door mean something more? Well it all depends. It can be loaded with meaning or it can simply appeal to the owner of the house. Remember in the Ten Commandments when the Hebrews put blood on their doors so the creeping fog of death would not come to kill their first born sons?
Egyptian soldier: Out! Out, all of you!
Dathan: Why do soldiers come here? I put no blood on my door!
Egyptian soldier: Then stone bleeds!
Dathan: Your stonecutter did this to me!
Lilia: All your gold cannot wipe that mark from your door, Dathan, or from my heart.
Dathan: Just for that, you’ll walk all the way to… Where are we going? Do you know where we’re going?
Egyptian soldier: To hell, I hope!
Red doors have been know to have a variety of other meanings besides don’t kill my first born son:
- WELCOME – In early American tradition, a red door symbolized to tired horse and buggy travelers that a home was a safe place to rest and stay.
- REFUGE – During the civil war, “safe homes” that were part of the Underground Railroad supposedly painted their doors red to guide escaped slaves to places of refuge and safety.
- MORTGAGE FREE – Scottish tradition holds that homeowners paint their front door red to signify that they had paid off their mortgage.
- GOOD LUCK – Chinese consider red to be a lucky color and therefore many Chinese put a fresh coat of red paint on their front doors as part of their New Year celebration.
- ENERGY – The principles of Feng Shui state that bold colors invite positive energy and that bold colors like red invite opportunities and abundance.
- REMINDER – Although many claim Albert Einstein to be one of the most brilliant minds ever, he had his blind spots. Apparently, Einstein painted his front door red because he couldn’t remember which house was his without the red door.
The Rolling Stones – “Paint It Black”
Of course when Mick Jagger sees a red door he wants to paint it black. Something about those colorful red doors just makes him want to be dark and moody.
“Red Door…open it…”
Then there is always the fragrance “Red Door by Elizabeth Arden which is down right scary.