The paper presents the use of corpus-based methods to investigate color terms in fiction. On the basis of Irving Stone’s biographical novel about the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, Lust for Life (1934), which established the genre of fictionalized biographies, a comprehensive analysis of color terms has been carried out, and a statistical profile of color terms has been developed. Corpus-based research allows for the identification and analysis of the frequency of use of lexemes and their collocations, etc., including the distribution of the frequency of color terms in the text of the novel, distributional analysis, and the study of the valence of color terms. For the research, the capabilities of the Sketch Engine software were used. A subcorpus of the text of the novel Lust for Life was created, based on which a list of color terms was compiled, the frequency of color terms and their shades was found, and the distribution of frequency of use throughout the novel was determined. The results of the study are illustrated with tables, diagrams, and reproductions of the artist. The characteristic features of using color terms in the text are analyzed, and the patterns of color terms coinage by the writer in comparison with the color palette of the artist’s paintings are revealed.
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