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Brief History of Color
Theories/The Color Wheel
Artists develop theories of color relationships in order to create frameworks
for understanding how colors relate to one another and how colors mix. In
many cases, a circle is the convenient format for observing color
relationships.
The Color Wheel
Our standard color wheel includes
twelve steps, made up of three
primary colors, three secondary
colors, and six tertiary colors
(mixtures of primary and secondary
colors)
Aristotle
Developed a theory of colors based on
observing color in nature. He believed color
was perceived through combinations of light
and dark
The primary elements of color were: Sunlight,
Firelight, Air and Water
Colors were made by mixing light and darkness:
red was a mixture of sunlight and darkness.
This explained why the sky turned red at sunrise
and sunset—the sun was mixing with the
approaching or receding night.
His basic colors were red, yellow, blue, green,
violet, black, white and brown
Leonardo da Vinci
Developed his own palette of basic hues, each
hue relating to the natural world.
NIGHT AIR WATER FIRE EARTH LIGHT
His palette was a spiritual manifestation of the
world through paint.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Was the first color theorist to approach color
from a scientific, rather than spiritual
standpoint.
(Mostly. Originally, he observed seven, not six
spectral hues, including indigo, possibly basing
this on the seven musical tones and the seven
spheres of heaven.)
Newton created the first color wheel.
• Discovered color was a function of light.
Observed the spectral hues when he bent light
through a prism.
Because his color system was based on light, his ideas were somewhat theoretical (at
the time).
He was never able to reproduce all his theories through paint (for example, mixing all
primaries together to create white) because the pigment system works different than
the light system does.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832)
Reacted against Newton’s theories because they
didn’t translate to mixing pigments.
He theorized that color phenomenon happened
in the human eye, rather than in white light.
Goethe observed that under strong midday sun, shadows were black or gray, but
that in other conditions, cast shadows were the complement of the hue of light.
This observation was important to the Impressionist painters.
Richard Diebenkorn
And later, to Bay Area Expressionists
Wayne Thiebaud
Goethe’s models of color relationships
are: the six-hue color wheel
Which demonstrates primary and secondary colors (depicted as triangles) and
complementary relationships (depicted as straight lines.
…and the Color Triangle
In this model, primary colors
(red, yellow, blue) are the
points of the triangle, and
secondary colors (orange,
yellow, green) are on the inside
edge of the triangle.
For Goethe, tertiary colors are
mixtures of the three colors
surrounding them. They are
nameless, non specific colors,
mixtures of red, violet, and
orange, for example.
Otto Runge
Attempted a threedimensional
depiction of color,
to demonstrate
that color was
not only a
function of hue,
but also value
and saturation
• In his sphere, the equator (center line) was
made up of pure saturation colors, and they
traveled as tints and shades towards the two
poles, which were pure black and pure white.
Johannes Itten
• Was a teacher at the Bauhaus school in
Germany prior to World War II.
A professor of Joseph Albers (who studied
simultaneous contrast).
The Bauhaus teachings are the foundation for
modern color theory:
Color phenomenon, simultaneous contrast
relationships, contrasts of hue, saturation,
value.
• Shortcomings of the Bauhaus model are that
they tend to look at color in a vacuum,
without considering it’s relationship to
imagery, psychology, or communication.
Joseph Albers
Itten’s Model for Color Relationships:
The Color Star
Itten’s color star is a
flattened representation
of Runge’s color sphere,
allowing the viewer to
see all colors, values, and
saturation at once.
He favors hard, geometric
edges to allow us to
perceive the effects
colors have on one
another in their pure
forms.
Albert Munsell
Expanded on Runge’s three-dimensional color
model with his COLOR TREE
Munsell’s system began with 5 basic hues:
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet.
And create a ten-step color wheel
His complementary pairings are:
Red--blue/green
Yellow--Blue/violet
Green—Red/orange
And Blue—Orange: the only pairing we
recognize from the traditional color wheel.
He developed his complementary pairings from
after-image observations
In Munsell’s color tree, value is represented along the center axis and
saturation is represented across the horizontal axis.
The tree is not symmetrical like the rest of our color models, because colors
reach full saturation at different values.
Munsell’s color tree was the basis for the
expanded color palettes we work from with
digital colors as well as industrial colors
Color Schemes
The Color wheel is a helpful tool
for observing harmonious
relationships between colors
called Color Scheme.
Monochromatic color scheme
One hue, and tints and shades of that hue
Analogous color scheme
Colors that lie next to
one another on the
color wheel
Complementary color scheme
A pair of complementary
colors---colors that are
across from one another
on the color wheel
Split-complementary
One color, and the colors
adjacent to it’s
complement.
Triadic color scheme
Three Colors that are equally spaced
on the color wheel
Quadratic Color Scheme
Four colors, equally spaced.
Connecting them forms a
square
Tetradic Color Scheme
Four colors, forming a
rectangle. This
arrangement is a set of
two complementary
pairings.