from The Art of Color by Johannes Itten
By way of introduction to color design, let us develop the 12-hue color circle from the primaries - yellow, red, and blue. As we know, a person with normal vision can identify a red that is neither bluish, nor yellowish; a yellow that is neither greenish, nor reddish; and a blue that is neither greenish, nor reddish. In examining each color, it is important to view it against a neutral gray background.
The primary colors must be defined with the greatest possible accuracy. We place them in an equilateral triangle with yellow at the top, red at the lower right. and blue at the lower left.
About this triangle we circumscribe a circle, in which we inscribe a regular hexagon. In the isosceles triangles between adjacent sides of the hexagon, we place three mixed colors, each composed of two primaries. Thus we obtain the secondary colors:
About this triangle we circumscribe a circle, in which we inscribe a regular hexagon. In the isosceles triangles between adjacent sides of the hexagon, we place three mixed colors, each composed of two primaries. Thus we obtain the secondary colors:
yellow + red = orange
yellow + blue = green
red + blue = violet
The three secondary colors have to be mixed very carefully. They must not lean towards either primary component. You will note that it is no easy task to obtain the secondaries by mixture. Orange must be neither too red, nor too yellow; violet neither too red, nor too blue; and green must be neither too yellow, nor too blue.
Now, at a convenient radius outside the first circle, let us draw another circle, and divide the ring between them into twelve equal sectors. In this ring, we repeat the primaries and secondaries at their appropriate locations, leaving a blank sector between every two colors.
In these blank sectors, we then paint the tertiary colors, each of which results from mixing a primary with a secondary, as follows:
Now, at a convenient radius outside the first circle, let us draw another circle, and divide the ring between them into twelve equal sectors. In this ring, we repeat the primaries and secondaries at their appropriate locations, leaving a blank sector between every two colors.
In these blank sectors, we then paint the tertiary colors, each of which results from mixing a primary with a secondary, as follows:
yellow + orange = yellow-orange
red + orange = red-orange
red + violet = red-violet
blue + violet = blue-violet
blue + green = blue-green
yellow + green = yellow-green
Thus we have constructed a regular 12-hue color circle in which each hue has its unmistakable place. The sequence of the colors is that of the rainbow or natural spectrum.
Newton obtained a continuous color circle of this kind by supplementing the spectral hues with purple, between red and violet. So the color circle is an artificially augmented spectrum.
The twelve hues are evenly spaced, with complementary colors diametrically opposite each other. One can accurately visualize any of these twelve hues at any time, and any intermediate tones are easily located. I think it is a waste of time for the colorist to practice making 24-hue, or 100 hue, color circles. Can any painter, unaided, visualize Color No.83 of a 100-hue circle?
Unless our color names correspond to precise ideas, no useful discussion of colors is possible. I must see my twelve tones as precisely as a musician hears the twelve tones of his chromatic scale.
Delacroix kept a color circle mounted on a wall of his studio, each color labeled with possible combinations. The Impressionists, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Signac, Seurat, and others, esteemed Delacroix as an eminent colorist. Delacroix, rather than Cezanne, is the founder of the tendency, among modern artists, to construct works upon logical, objective color principles, so achieving a heightened degree of order and truth.
Newton obtained a continuous color circle of this kind by supplementing the spectral hues with purple, between red and violet. So the color circle is an artificially augmented spectrum.
The twelve hues are evenly spaced, with complementary colors diametrically opposite each other. One can accurately visualize any of these twelve hues at any time, and any intermediate tones are easily located. I think it is a waste of time for the colorist to practice making 24-hue, or 100 hue, color circles. Can any painter, unaided, visualize Color No.83 of a 100-hue circle?
Unless our color names correspond to precise ideas, no useful discussion of colors is possible. I must see my twelve tones as precisely as a musician hears the twelve tones of his chromatic scale.
Delacroix kept a color circle mounted on a wall of his studio, each color labeled with possible combinations. The Impressionists, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Signac, Seurat, and others, esteemed Delacroix as an eminent colorist. Delacroix, rather than Cezanne, is the founder of the tendency, among modern artists, to construct works upon logical, objective color principles, so achieving a heightened degree of order and truth.
