3. History of Color Theory
• The first color wheel was invented by Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727).
He was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer,
natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian.
• He invented the reflecting telescope and developed a theory of
colour based on the observation that a prism (wedge shaped glass)
decomposes white light into a visible spectrum.
• He split white sunlight into red, orange, yellow, green, cyan (violet) , and
blue beams; then he joined the two ends of the color spectrum
together to show the natural progression of colors.
4. Current Color Theory
• The current form of color theory was developed by Johannes Itten
(1888-1967), a Swiss color and art theorist who was teaching at the
School of Applied Arts in Weimar, Germany. This school is also known
as 'Bauhaus‘ (1919-1933).
• Johannes Itten modified the color wheel. Itten's color wheel is based
on red, yellow, and blue colors as the primary triad and includes twelve
hues.
5. Psychological/Cultural Meanings of Colors
1. Cultural associations: the color of currency, traditions, celebrations,
geography, etc. (For example, green is associated with heaven
(Muslims) and luck (U.S. and Ireland)
2. Political and historical associations: the color of flags, political
parties, royalty, etc. (For example, green is the color of Libya's flag;
it’s the favorite color of Emperor Hirohito and the source of "Green
Day" in Japan, and in the U.S., the Green Party.)
3. Religious and mythical associations: the colors associated with
spiritual or magical beliefs (For example, in contemporary Western
culture, green is associated with extraterrestrial beings.)
