advancing color, retreating color definition

In art, the appearance of warm colors coming forward in the picture plan and the cooler colors staying back is called advancing and retreating color.  This idea of warm and cool colors relates to aerial perspective and is used in painting landscapes; the artist may try to give the illusion of depth in the picture plan by employing atmospheric perspective and geometric methods.  However, the concept's use is used judiciously by artists because the theory does not always work effectively in every painting.  For example, an artist could easily create a warm, rich sunset in the distance while having cool water in the forefront and succeed in having great depth in a painting.