Color theory: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:31, 21 May 2025

Revision as of 14:34, 26 May 2025

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{{Short description|Principles to describe the practical behavior of colors}}

{{Distinguish|colorimetry}}

{{otherOther uses}}

{{Use American English|date=August 2016}}

[[File:GoetheFarbkreis.jpg|right|thumb|[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]'s color wheel from his 1810 ''[[Theory of Colours]]'']]

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== Color mixing ==

{{mainMain|Color mixing}}

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{{main|Color mixing}}

One of the earliest purposes of color theory was to establish rules governing the mixing of pigments.

Traditional color theory was built around "pure" or ideal colors, characterized by different sensory experiences rather than attributes of the physical world. This has led to several inaccuracies in traditional color theory principles that are not always remedied in modern formulations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=handprint : colormaking attributes|url=https://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color6.html|access-date=2021-07-31|website=www.handprint.com}}</ref> Another issue has been the tendency to describe color effects holistically or categorically, for example as a contrast between "yellow" and "blue" conceived as generic colors instead of the three color attributes generally considered by color science: [[hue]], [[colorfulness]] and [[lightness]]. These confusions are partly historical and arose in scientific uncertainty about color perception that was not resolved until the late 19th century when artistic notions were already entrenched. They also arise from the attempt to describe the highly contextual and flexible behavior of color perception in terms of abstract color sensations that can be generated equivalently by any [[visual media]].{{citationCitation needed|date=September 2022}}

=== Primary colors ===

{{mainMain|Primary color}}

[[File:Color star-en (tertiary names).svg|thumb|Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors of the [[RYB color model]]]]

{{main|Primary color}}

Color theory asserts three pure primary colors that can be used to mix all possible colors. These are sometimes considered as red, yellow and blue ([[RYB color model|RYB]]) or as red, green and blue ([[RGB color model|RGB]]).{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Ostensibly, any failure of specific [[paint]]s or [[ink]]s to match this ideal performance is due to the impurity or imperfection of the colorants. In contrast, modern color science does not recognize universal primary colors (no finite combination of colors can produce all other colors) and only uses primary colors to define a given [[color space]].<ref name="Handprint1"/> Any three primary colors can mix only a limited range of colors, called a [[gamut]], which is always smaller (contains fewer colors) than the full range of colors humans can perceive.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Traditional and Modern Colour Theory Part 1: Modern Colour Theory|url=http://www.huevaluechroma.com/112.php|access-date=2021-10-15|language=en-AU}}</ref> Primary colors also can't be made from other colors as they are inherently pure and distinct.<ref>{{Cite web|title=3 Basic Primary Colors {{!}} Additive and Subtractive Color Mixing|url=https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/primary-colors/|date=February 28, 2024 |access-date=2025-01-10|language=en-USA}}</ref>

=== Complementary colors ===

[[File:Chevreul's RYB chromatic diagram.png|upright=1.35|thumb|[[Michel Eugène Chevreul|Chevreul]]'s 1855 "chromatic diagram" based on the [[RYB color model]], showing [[complementary colors]] and other relationships]]

{{Main|Complementary colors}}

[[File:Chevreul's RYB chromatic diagram.png|upright=1.35|thumb|[[Michel Eugène Chevreul|Chevreul]]'s 1855 "chromatic diagram" based on the [[RYB color model]], showing [[complementary colors]] and other relationships]]

For the mixing of colored light, [[Isaac Newton]]'s [[color wheel]] is often used to describe complementary colors, which are colors that cancel each other's hue to produce an achromatic (white, gray or black) light mixture. Newton offered as a conjecture that colors exactly opposite one another on the hue circle cancel out each other's hue; this concept was demonstrated more thoroughly in the 19th century. An example of [[complementary colors]] would be magenta and green.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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=== Split primary palette ===

The split-primary palette is a color-wheel model that relies on misconceptions to attempt to explain the unsatisfactory results produced when mixing the traditional primary colors, red, yellow, and blue.

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== Color contrast ==

{{seeSee also|color contrast}}

In [[Michel Eugène Chevreul|Chevreul's]] 1839 book ''The principles of harmony and contrast of colours'',<ref name=Chevreul>{{cite book |last1=Chevreul |first1=Michel Eugène |title=De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs |date=1839}}</ref> he introduced the law of color contrast, stating that colors that appear together (spatially or temporally) will be altered as if mixed with the complementary color of the other color, functionally boosting the color contrast between them. For example, a piece of yellow fabric placed on a blue background will appear tinted orange because orange is the complementary color to blue. Chevreul formalized three types of contrast:<ref name=Chevreul/>

* ''simultaneous contrast'', which appears in two colors viewed side by side,

* ''successive contrast'', for the [[afterimage]] left on an achromatic background after viewing a color, and

* ''mixed contrast'', for the afterimage left on another color.

* ''simultaneous contrast'', which appears in two colors viewed side by side,

=== Warm vs. cool colors <span class="anchor" id="Warm vs. cool colours"></span>===

* ''successive contrast'', for the [[afterimage]] left on an achromatic background after viewing a color, and

* ''mixed contrast'', for the afterimage left on another color.

=== Warm vs. cool colors <span class="anchor" id="Warm vs. cool colours"></span>===

The distinction between "warm" and "cool" colors has been important since at least the late 18th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color12.html |title=color temperature |publisher=handprint |date=2009-04-19 |access-date=2011-06-09}}</ref> The difference (as traced by etymologies in the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]), seems related to the observed contrast in landscape light, between the "warm" colors associated with daylight or sunset, and the "cool" colors associated with a gray or overcast day. Warm colors are often said to be hues from red through yellow, browns, and tans included; cool colors are often said to be the hues from blue-green through blue violet, most grays included. There is a historical disagreement about the colors that anchor the polarity, but 19th-century sources put the peak contrast between red-orange and greenish-blue.{{NoteTag|The traditional warm/cool association of a color is reversed relative to the [[color temperature]] of a theoretical radiating [[black body]]; the hottest [[star]]s radiate blue (cool) light, and the coolest radiate red (warm) light.}}

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== Color symbolism ==

{{mainMain|Color symbolism}}

A major underpinning of traditional color theory is that colors carry significant cultural symbolism, or even have immutable, universal meaning. As early as the ancient Greek philosophers, many theorists have devised color associations and linked particular connotative meanings to specific colors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Benson|first=J. L. |date=2000 |title=Greek Color Theory and the Four Elements |url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/art_jbgc/1 |language=en}} Full text, not including figures.</ref> However, connotative color associations and color symbolism tends to be culture-bound and may also vary across different contexts and circumstances. For example, red has many different connotative and symbolic meanings from exciting, arousing, sensual, romantic, and feminine; to a symbol of good luck; and also acts as a signal of danger. Such color associations tend to be learned and do not necessarily hold irrespective of individual and cultural differences or contextual, temporal or perceptual factors.<ref>{{cite book|title=If it's Purple, Someone's Gonna Die|first=Patti|last=Bellantoni|publisher=[[Elsevier]], [[Focal Press]]|year=2005|isbn=0-240-80688-3}}</ref> It is important to note that while color symbolism and color associations exist, their existence does not provide evidential support for [[color psychology]] or claims that color has therapeutic properties.<ref>O'Connor, Z. (2010). "Colour psychology and color therapy: Caveat emptor". ''Color Research and Application''</ref>

==See also==

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* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Charles Albert Keeley}}

* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Color analysis}}

* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Color mixing}}

* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Color science}}

* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Color wheel}}

* ''{{annotatedAnnotated link|On Vision and Colors}}''

* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Subtractive color}}

* {{annotatedAnnotated link|Visible spectrum}}

{{div col end}}

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* [https://www.coursera.org/lecture/graphic-elements-design/understanding-color-theory-1SYDS Understanding Color Theory by University of Colorado Boulder – Coursera]

* [http://handprint.com/HP/WCL/wcolor.html Handprint.com: Color] – aA comprehensive site about color perception, color psychology, color theory, and color mixing

* [http://www.huevaluechroma.com/ The Dimensions of Colour] – colorColor theory for artists using digital/traditional media

{{Appearance phenomena}}