Sabrina Pineda

English 101
Professor Batty
02/28/18
Colors of Audrey
When I was a child I used to believe “Murals” were just paintings or drawings

people would do if they got bored. Growing up I never knew they would have a strong

meaning. As a kid I believed they were just meaningless pictures because they didn’t

always have words or much color, or some had too much color. Others weren’t too

attention calling neither. Today, I have a better understanding on why murals consists

certain colors, shapes, text and etc.

In addition, Since I have a better understanding on murals-one specific mural

stood out to me and it was the one where Audrey Hepburn is in. She is surrounded with

many hearts in the colors red, blue, purple, yellow, orange and green. All these colors

being in one mural seem to tell us this picture is sending mixed emotions. Red is

showing aggressiveness and romance. Blue shows sadness. Yellow is representing

gold and maybe the sun. Orange seems to represent joy and warmth and green is luck,

nature and money. A little experiment called “Finding colors” by “Witney Lopez” was

done on colors and she briefly gives us how her results were conducted. She also gives

us her sources and shows us how this experiment was born.

The mural says “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other...Free humanity”

while in her image as in her body, her face and clothes is covered in black and white
paint. I believe that her being black and white the mural is telling us she isn’t happy. The

first part “The best thing to hold onto in life is each other” is powerful because i’m aware

that Audrey may have had to face difficulties in life and maybe that was her moto. “Free

humanity” definitely clarifies that she had to face hard obstacles throughout her life and

he painter of the mural knew. Humanity means race; human beings collectively.

Though this may just look like a mural in the streets of L.A it is something way

more bigger than that. As I did my research on Audrey the person in the mural I discover

she was a strong human being. She had struggles and achievements. She played a role

of a person who inspired many for both her accomplishments and struggles which she

had more than an average person would.Even though She grew up in the middle of

WW2 she had great accomplishments. When she was 16 years old she volunteered as

a nurse at Dutch hospital during the battle of Arnhem. Audrey helped nurse back to

health 12 year old Terance a young British paratrooper. 20 years later Audrey found out

he was a director then he helped her in Wait Until Park. She had a street named after

her and a princess created after her. She had everyone wanting to have her style and

beauty. Not to mention she also won a few awards, had her own perfume brand and the

list goes on. Her struggles weren’t easy neither she had been captured by nazi’s and

so did some of her relatives followed by being killed. She was lucky enough to escape.

In my opinion, the colorful hearts in this mural are a representations of how her life

went. Her black and white face, clothes and all other features of her are her struggles
she was never able to overcome.

This mural taught me to appreciate the life I live because unlike Audrey, I’m not in

the middle of a war. I have also realize that I’m lucky I get to wake up along with my

loved ones and I don’t have to worry about someone coming after us or trying to hide. I

feel as if her purpose of her life was to give a message loud and clear. One of her

biggest acts that influenced me was knowing no matter what she went through, she still

pursued her dreams and accomplishments. She was still one of the greatest influencers

to live. She was able to put all her problems aside and help others.In my personal

opinion everything she went through molded her into the great person she was meant to

be. In her time things were very tough and different, rather today there are way more

resources that have been created to help us with whatever we need.

In discussion of murals it amazes me that before writing about this topic I had no

interest in talking about how murals can have so much meaning. They never spoke to

me because I was never open minded to the messages these type of murals can give

us. Now, I love how a mural doesn’t need to have words for me to really think about it.I

feel it is very important to use this concept in every life lesson. I acknowledge that the

mural pointed out a variety of so much going on by adding color and very short words.

The mural artists made it come to life! It was incredible because the hearts were not

perfect and some hearts I know were her achievements but the none perfect hearts

show how it wasn’t easy to achieve the goal but it was not impossible either. I really love
how the mural shows a realistic looking picture of her beauty because this is saying to

me that no matter what your appearance is, life can get hard but the outcome always

makes us stronger.

In conclusion, murals are “just murals” if you just take glance and don’t put full

attention to them but as if you learn to really break them down a picture, they will have a

deeper meaning. For instance they never meant anything to me until I took a deeper

look into this one.

Work cited
Pantone. “Color Influences Emotions in a Way That Few Other Things Can Read More:
Http://Digitalskratch.com/Color-Psychology.” Digital Skratch, IMDb.com, 1 June 2011,
digitalskratch.com/color-psychology/

“Audrey Hepburn.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28 Apr. 2017,

www.biography.com/people/audrey-hepburn-9335788