The evolution of colour theory!

             THE EVOLUTION OF COLOUR THEORY;

 The theory of colours itself and its physical properties have been the subject of vigorous investigation over the last four centuries, people always, and I mean always displayed a fascination for colour and it plays a fundamental role in virtually every society in the world. Infact they can trace colour and it's uses back to early man, scientists believe the innate attraction that boys have for blue and girls for pink stems from different roles early men and women had, colour has always had a role in one shape or form. I'd like to chronologically present how the understanding of colour and it's physical properties has developed over time.There have obviously been discoveries of varying controversy, excellence and impact however they have all actively contributed to the understanding that we share today, and the journey is far from over yet as we develop newer and more complex technology we can continue to dig deeper into the messy and hectic world of colour!

   
               THE 18TH/19TH CENTURY

In 1704, Sir Isaac Newton published a book called Optiks, which essentially stated that the previous thought from Artistole and Theophratsus was false,they believed that 'pure' light, (light from the sun) was simply white and not visible to the eye and was only distorted when it was manipulated by another medium like water.Newton however claimed that light is made up from different spectral hues, infact seven, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet and all colours, even white are to be made from a specific combination of these colours, (white was thought of as a colour at the time).He also stated that colour is a sensation in the mind and colour simply derives from the physical properties of light. When light is refracted at a given angle, it will project a different colour,the colour is whatever wavelength is produced when the light is refracted at this specific angle. E.G Red has the lowest energy and frequency, but a long wavelength. This discovery changed the dynamics of colour theory as we know it, from the hues of light and the scientific properties of them, Newton was able to determine which colours were complimentary to one another- essentially, which colours would look the greatest if they were to be placed against one another, this was as follows, RED:GREEN YELLOW:PURPLE BLUE:ORANGE - this discovery rocked both the art and science world (as interlinked as they are!) and changed the approach people had to colour, moreover creation of things completely!

    BASIC COLOUR WHEEL 

      DEVISED BY NEWTON

In 1810; German poet and government minister, Johan Wolfgang von Goethe published a book called,'The theory of colours'. This book claimed that colours that compliment one another exist and equally opposing colours exist and the book documents the investigation of afterimages, in contrasting shadows of light.

In 1839;

Michel Eugène Chevreul a French chemist, who had become the head of a company manufacturing dye, along with other things, stated that colours placed near one-another that are complimentary to one another appear different, or have a strange hue, for example to place a yellow cloth onto a blue table, would give an orange hue, as orange is complimentary to blue. This eventually evolved into an entire theory on colour contrast. Here are two examples.

Successive contrast; stare at the dots in one of the circles in the top section for thirty seconds, afterwards look straight at one of the dots in the circles in the lower sections and the colours will appear different even though they're the same.

Simultaneous contrast; observe both grey blocks in the centre, the top one looks brighter than the lower one, however this is just due to the darker background that it happens to be one, infant they're the exact same colour. 

         SYNATHESIS;

Not necessarily related to colour theory but colour itself, the neurological disorder synathecsia; don't be fooled- this is no disorder.

Synathecsia allows people to experience multiple sensory stimulation, for one given occurrence, one example being David Hockney, when designing a stage, he listens to the song that's going to be in the performance, when listening to that song his brain produces images and colours, this will be the inspiration for his stage design. It isn't always Music ----> Colour, sometimes people can experience the reverse, some people have even reported hearing different songs when looking at different buildings. Synathecsia affected a number of artists in the 18th century and onwards- it wasn't known as anything back then, however some 'sufferers' have coined it as,'hypersensiti' which is very understandable. 

 One noteable 'sufferer

' was Kandinsky- who was able to 'hear' colours, he is widely credited with creating the worlds first truly 'abstract'

paintings, remember abstract isn't simply, 'made up', but more a slightly more poetic and lateral way of representing something, with inspiration and idea rooted in truth and discovery. 

Kandisky aimed to create the worlds first visual symphony, paintings that are audial, and visual, this explains the wild levels of energy, colour and space that he used in his paintings- he could more accurately place what felt right due to his multi-sensory feelings towards his pieces.

This 'disease' was clearly advantageous for him, he created his largest piece, (Composition VII) in three days, while art is not a race, usually if something of that scale is done at such a speed, it won't visually (or audibly in his case) deliver however this piece is a notable exception. 

This 'disease' pushed forward the relevance and meaning of colour to a new level. Normal people weren't necessarily able to hear sounds, but they upon seeing other people's work were able to make the connection, a number of artists started using colour not just to represent what was there but to give a more sensory experience. Colour began to have an even larger 

impact on the way we can perceive things.

20th Century- Present day understanding;

Carrying on from Goethe's work, German and English scientists determined that light mixing in the eye is different from mixing of dyes.established in the late 19th century that color perception is best described in terms of a different set of primary colors – red, green and blue (RGB) modeled through the additive, rather than subtractive, mixture of three monochromatic lights, also known as spectral colors.

In translation- mixtures of different waves of light doesn't have the same physical mixing properties as pigments so the same principal can't be applied to both.