We asked for your art-related questions—strange or straightforward—and you delivered. In this installment, we dive into our process for creating “mood” playlists. (See all installments.)

Is there a formula for creating a playlist that evokes certain emotions/mood to play on the Meural for a party or just a lazy day? — Cindy B from Chicago

Part of the fun of creating playlists—especially ones intended to evoke a mood or emotion—is that there is no set formula. It’s really all about exploring! What’s more, each curator at Meural HQ has their own individual approach, not to mention aesthetic, which makes answering this question succinctly a challenge. But after a quick team discussion, I’ve been able to identify three key techniques that we consistently employ. We hope you find them useful!

A lead image

Associate Curator Kelvin tends to start with a single image that sparks a particular feeling or memory. Take for example his playlist Teen Angst, which he anchored around Munch’s painting Weeping Nude. The painting gave him the idea for the playlist’s name, and then it was a case of finding artworks, however varied, that summoned similar feelings of adolescent pessimism. In some cases a painting’s title and subject makes it an obvious choice—another Munch entitled Anxiety fit the bill perfectly—but, just as often, it’s a very personal response to an artwork’s overall character, as was the case with a heavy, inky street scene by Lesser Ury. “It has that feeling of being left on the outside—watching people in the warmth and light, but feeling unable to join them,” says Kelvin. It also helps that our collection is carefully categorized by genre, and subject, and that our images are tagged with keywords—”I searched using words like ‘dark,’ ‘anger,’ ‘youth,’ and ‘alone’,” he told me. I feel duty bound to mention that Kelvin creates happier playlists too.

A working title

I often start with the title, before even looking at our art library, and my inspiration comes from everything from everyday happenings to cultural nostalgia. “One Can Never Have Too Much Yellow”, for example, was a response to a quote I stumbled across from artist Pierre Bonnard while writing his biography; “A Road Less Traveled” was inspired by Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Less Taken”, which so many of us studied in school; I’ve even used pop-song lyrics as a starting point, as with Just Another Manic Monday—a wild array of photographs, paintings and moving images that I felt suited the upbeat tone of The Bangles’ classic song. In each case, I draw on my own knowledge of our collection, curatorial team brainstorms and some good, old-fashioned online browsing.

And sometimes, of course, a ‘mood’ playlist revolves around one clear, tangible subject-matter, such as Snow Day, created by Senior Curator Sara during the 2017 blizzard Niko: “With this collection I wanted to draw on that unique sense of freedom that comes from bundling up in warm clothes and venturing out to stomp on a freshly laid carpet of snow. It was easy to find artworks of winter scenes, but then I needed to give the collection an emotional cohesion and, for that, I relied on my memory of playing in the snow as a child.”

Colors speak louder than words

Artists across the centuries have believed in, and harnessed the symbolic and evocative powers of color, and Associate Curators Haley and Alessandra tend to agree. They often begin with a particular hue and create a long list of images from which to edit. The Color category on the Meural platform is a useful starting point for Haley, who is responsible for our “Spot Color” playlists (that match Pantone color swatches). This is where she does a first sweep of complimentary artworks—for example ones that include the vibrant ultra violet Pantone Color of the Year, 2018 either through dominance or cumulative effect. Says Haley, “The swatch is key in this process as it the only way I can really see and pull out the Pantone color in the artwork, so I always have it open on my desktop. Depending on the context, our perception of one color can change radically depending on the background it’s on.”

However a ‘mood’ playlist is put together, one thing we all enjoy is how these thematic collections often result in unexpected visual connections. By bringing together wildly different artworks—abstract and literal, 15th century and 21st century— they encourage us to view well-known pieces in new, creative contexts and discover works we’ve previously only had a passing knowledge of.

Want to make your own mood playlist? We’d recommend the following steps:

First, come up with the theme you want your playlist to center around—a theme like “whimsy”, or perhaps a favorite season that evokes a strong memory or sensation.

Then browse through the library’s categories (movements, styles, color, and subject) to see what artwork has already been grouped together.

Finally, Search the collection with words associated with the theme. Of course, you can upload your own images as well.

— Poppy Simpson, Head of Content and Curation

Have a question you think can #StumpACurator? Let us know!