Primary Colors

NARRATOR:Listen to part of a lecture in a studio art class.

MALE PROFESSOR:OK... As-as you probably know, primary colors are, theoretically speaking, the basic colors from which all other colors can be made.But as you'll find out when you start working on your painting projects, the three primary colors-red, blue, yellow-don't always make the best secondary colors.Combining red and blue, you'll probably never get a fantastic violet.To get a nice violet, you'll have to add white.Combining yellow and blue, you'll almost never get a satisfactory green.You're better off using a pure green pigment...The idea of "primary colors"-and specifically the idea of red, yellow, and blue being the primary colors-didn't exist until about 200 years ago.Until then, the dominant theory about color was one that had been proposed by Isaac Newton.

Newton gave a scientific and objective explanation of colors.He used a prism to break white light down into the various colors of the spectrum, and he theorized-rightly so-that different colors are essentially different wavelengths of light.But he made no mention of "primary" colors.That idea came from- or was at least published by-a man named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Goethe was a well-known author; he wrote many famous novels, plays, poems... So why did he start thinking about colors?Well, Goethe was part of the Romantic movement in Western literature... and he was a Romantic through-and-through, meaning that he explained objects and phenomena in terms of the spiritual, emotional impact they had, as opposed to explaining them in terms of their scientific nature; he rejected an objective understanding of color in favor of a more subjective understanding.He believed that when we see color, it stimulates our emotions.And different colors appeal to or inspire different emotions in different people.

FEMALE STUDENT:That sounds like psychology.

MALE PROFESSOR:Well, color theory is used in psychology too; some psychologists do use their field's version of color theory to diagnose and treat patients...Um, anyway, Goethe conducted a number of experiments trying to figure out which colors corresponded to which emotions...And, in terms of that goal, he wasn't very successful.But... his experiments actually did show a lot about the relationships between colors themselves, about how colors change when placed next to other colors, about how they interact with one another.Scientists studying optics and chromatics today still marvel at his findings...But Goethe wasn't really able to establish a clear connection between colors and emotions.

Then, in 1806, he received a letter from a relatively unknown German artist, a painter named Philipp Otto Runge.In the letter, Runge outlined his own color theory, specifically the connections he made between colors and emotions.And his ideas about what colors symbolized, a-about the emotions that different colors inspired were based on the colors red, yellow, and blue.Runge's choice of red, yellow, and blue had nothing to do with what we know from modern-day chromatics-it had to do with Runge's complex system of symbolism, his experience of nature, particularly with his experience of the quality of light at various times of the day- morning, noon, and night.So each color had a specific symbolic value.Well, four years later, Goethe published a book entitled Color Lesson.In Color Lesson, Goethe [lightly sarcastic] coincidentally cites the same colors as primary colors.At this point, Goethe was already a well-known author, so he was easily able to popularize this idea of primary colors, and specifically the idea of red, yellow, and blue as the primary colors.

FEMALE STUDENT:But he didn't mention Runge?

MALE PROFESSOR:Well, he did put Runge's letter in the book, at the end. But he added a disclaimer, implying that Runge's letter didn't influence his work.[Sarcastic] Apparently, what Goethe was saying was that they just happened to come up with the same theory at the same time.