The colors of Porto: watercolor as a technique of representation of Porto’s architecture

Abstract

Colour is one of the elements that most strongly marks the character of a city. And if something characterizes the city of Porto, it is its colours. From the explosion of colour on the façades of its houses, to the blue reflection of its tiles, through the red of its roofs, the green of the moss that is accumulated on its stones, to the black and white of the cobblestones that extend along its pedestrian pavements. The colours of its streets, the graffiti of its artists who paint everything from walls, to electricity boxes and facilities. Everything is colour. Colours that change with the light of day and night, the light of the seasons, the reflection of the city in Douro’s waters and the influence of the fog and the humidity that comes from the Atlantic. Everything in Porto refers to water and light broken down into colours. Therefore, we represent Porto’s architecture with watercolour technique, using these same elements