Both Isaac Newton and Philip Otto Runge have had a strong influence on the way we use and experience colour today. Beginning with Newton’s introduction of the first colour wheel which consisted of all primary colours from his book “Optiks”, which portrayed his belief that colour should be ordered and something about colour should not be altered. He looked into how colour meets the eye and how we see it. He also introduced the idea of simultaneous contrast, where a colour make is perceived differently depending on what colour surrounds it. For example a blue square within a green circle will be perceived differently to a blue square within a red circle. While Newton had a very mathematical and scientific approach to colour, he did not research how we perceive and feel about colour. While Runge believed that colour could portray emotion and that symbolism could be found within colour. Rung also developed his own idea of the colour wheel in his colour sphere, “which consisted of a set of three primaries: red, yellow and blue arranged in a complimentary scheme, it” (Gage) uses ideas of colours and shades that are still present today. An example of this experimentation with colour is “The night cafe” which uses an obscure combination of contrasting reds and greens creating a strong symbolism and emotion. These developed theories colour would not be incorporated into art and design as we know it today. There would be no link between the emotion and symbolism and colour that we successfully use today. Paintings would not have the emotion that we see and experience today, designs would use colour with no meaning.
Gage, John. (1993). Colour and Culture – Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. London: Thames and Hudson
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