The explanation is at first glance quite straightforward — it’s that no other color affects us like it. You don’t want to upset anybody? Get yourself some tasteful neutrals. You want to cause a ruckus? Trot out the red. Red is death. It’s violence. It’s sex. It’s beauty. It’s power. (Just ask Taylor.) So when King Charles III unveiled his first official portrait since his coronation earlier this week at Buckingham Palace, of course there were gasps heard round the world. But it’s not just the overabundance of a divisive primary color that makes the image so unnerving.
As envisioned by British artist Jonathan Yeo, the king wears the scarlet uniform of the Welsh Guards and rests his hands lightly on his sword. A butterfly flits near his shoulder, to symbolize how, Yeo has stated, “the subject’s role in our public life has transformed.” (And here I thought it was because it's a monarch.) The kicker of the piece, though, is that Charles seems to melt into a background as vivid red as his attire is, making this the perhaps first royal portrait to evoke that meme of Elmo engulfed in flames.
