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Theory of Colours
By the time Goethe's "Theory of Colours" appeared in 1810, the wavelength theory of light and color had been firmly established. To Goethe, the theory was the result of mistaking an incidental result for an elemental principle. Far from pretending to a knowledge of physics, he insisted that such knowledge was an actual hindrance to understanding. He based his conclusions exclusively upon exhaustive personal observation of the phenomena of color.
Of his own theory, Goethe was supremely confident: "From the philosopher, we believe we merit thanks for having traced the phenomena of colours to their first sources, to the circumstances under which they appear and are, and beyond which no further explanation respecting them is possible."
Goethe's scientific conclusions have, of course, long since been thoroughly demolished, but the intelligent reader of today may enjoy this work on quite different grounds: for the beauty and sweep of his conjectures regarding the connection between color and philosophical ideas; for an insight into early nineteenth-century beliefs and modes of thought; and for the flavor of life in Europe just after the American and French Revolutions.
The work may also be read as an accurate guide to the study of color phenomena. Goethe's conclusions have been repudiated, but no one quarrels with his reporting of the facts to be observed. With simple objects -- vessels, prisms, lenses, and the like -- the reader will be led through a demonstration course not only in subjectively produced colors, but also in the observable physical phenomena of color. By closely following Goethe's explanations of the color phenomena, the reader may become so divorced from the wavelength theory -- Goethe never even mentions it -- that he may begin to think about color theory relatively unhampered by prejudice, ancient or modern.
Of his own theory, Goethe was supremely confident: "From the philosopher, we believe we merit thanks for having traced the phenomena of colours to their first sources, to the circumstances under which they appear and are, and beyond which no further explanation respecting them is possible."
Goethe's scientific conclusions have, of course, long since been thoroughly demolished, but the intelligent reader of today may enjoy this work on quite different grounds: for the beauty and sweep of his conjectures regarding the connection between color and philosophical ideas; for an insight into early nineteenth-century beliefs and modes of thought; and for the flavor of life in Europe just after the American and French Revolutions.
The work may also be read as an accurate guide to the study of color phenomena. Goethe's conclusions have been repudiated, but no one quarrels with his reporting of the facts to be observed. With simple objects -- vessels, prisms, lenses, and the like -- the reader will be led through a demonstration course not only in subjectively produced colors, but also in the observable physical phenomena of color. By closely following Goethe's explanations of the color phenomena, the reader may become so divorced from the wavelength theory -- Goethe never even mentions it -- that he may begin to think about color theory relatively unhampered by prejudice, ancient or modern.
423 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1810
About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
10.8k books6,034 followersA master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem
Faust
, published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
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October 7, 2018
Most self-respecting books about colour mention Goethe sooner or later. Those references are simply the continued reverberations of his work, from when it was written in 1810 to the present day, and they retroactively provide the uninitiated reader with a context for his theory and the motivation to peruse it. Otherwise, facing 920 textual units that make up Goethe’s Theory of Colours could prove quite daunting.
If you wish garner some of that context and motivation, here are a few references I came across most recently:
1912: In Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Wassily Kandinsky begins his section on The Language of Form and Colour with two quotations (by Shakespeare and Delacroix), but then grounds them using Goethe’s theory:
1975: In On Being Blue , William H. Gass, gives his lyrical interpretation of Goethe’s theory of light:
1977: In Remarks on Colours, Ludwig Wittegenstein uses Goethe’s theory as a springboard for his own (dissenting) ideas:
2009: In Bluets , Maggie Nelson cites Goethe in favour of her topic:
2017: In The Secret Lives of Colours, Kasia St. Claire gives Goethe’s somewhat unfortunate quote in large magenta letters across a black background:
Let that suffice as a first offering of reverberations.
At the time of publication, Goethe’s theory was contentious to say the least. He spent a whole part examining the Newtonian theory of colour from a negative standpoint. Specifically, in the preface, Goethe says:
But this Gutenberg edition, with notes by Charles Lock Eastlake, does not cover that part. Instead, it focuses on colour theory, a substantial portion, which is itself divided into six parts:
Part I: Physiological colours
Part II: Physical colours
Part III: Chemical colours
Part IV: General characteristics
Part V: Relation to other pursuits
Part VI: Effect of colour with reference to moral associations
Each of the parts is further divided into numbered units of thought that actually aid the reader: it’s easier to focus only on the more interesting ideas.
And interesting ideas abound. I’d roughly divide them into:
- Pure observations:
- Observations during experiments:
- Anecdotes:
- Classifications:
- Simplifications to contrasts:
- Dated (but historically relevant) generalisations:
Naturally, it’s also a pleasure to hunt down the sources for the references found in other books. For example, whilst Kandinsky mentions Goethe only that once (as far as I could tell), I found far more similarities in their strains of thought, so much so, that I feel more credit should have been given to Goethe’s observations of colour expansions and contractions, colour passivity and activity, and the connection of colour to sound.
And there is so much more. The book is a deep, branching compendium of observations and opinion, which is why writers, artists, and philosophers return to Goethe’s Theory. Refusing to read it would be like insisting on reinventing all the different (colour) wheels, when you could instead be studying their properties.
If you wish garner some of that context and motivation, here are a few references I came across most recently:
1912: In Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Wassily Kandinsky begins his section on The Language of Form and Colour with two quotations (by Shakespeare and Delacroix), but then grounds them using Goethe’s theory:
These two quotations show the deep relationship between the arts, and especially between music and painting. Goethe said that painting must count this relationship her main foundation, and by this prophetic remark he seems to foretell the position in which painting is today.
1975: In On Being Blue , William H. Gass, gives his lyrical interpretation of Goethe’s theory of light:
Eye and sky together are then blue and its apprehension. Goethe—great pagan that he was—sounds the same note: The eye owes its very existence to light. From inert animal ancillary organs light evokes an organ which shall become light; and so the eye learns to give light for light, emitting an internal ray to encounter that from without.
1977: In Remarks on Colours, Ludwig Wittegenstein uses Goethe’s theory as a springboard for his own (dissenting) ideas:
One thing was irrefutably clear to Goethe: no lightness can come out of darkness—just as more and more shadows do not produce light. This could be expressed as follows: we may call lilac a reddish-whitish-blue or brown a blackish-reddish-yellow—but we cannot call a white a yellowish-reddish-greenish-blue, or the like. And that is something that experiments with the spectrum neither confirm nor refute. It would, however, also be wrong to say, "Just look at the colours in nature and you will see that it is so". For looking does not teach us anything about the concepts of colours.
2009: In Bluets , Maggie Nelson cites Goethe in favour of her topic:
“We love to contemplate blue, not because it advances to us, but because it draws us after it,” wrote Goethe, and perhaps he is right.
2017: In The Secret Lives of Colours, Kasia St. Claire gives Goethe’s somewhat unfortunate quote in large magenta letters across a black background:
Savage nations, uneducated people, and children have a great predilection for vivid colours.
Let that suffice as a first offering of reverberations.
At the time of publication, Goethe’s theory was contentious to say the least. He spent a whole part examining the Newtonian theory of colour from a negative standpoint. Specifically, in the preface, Goethe says:
In the second part we examine the Newtonian theory; a theory which by its ascendancy and consideration has hitherto impeded a free inquiry into the phenomena of colours. We combat that hypothesis, for although it is no longer found available, it still retains a traditional authority in the world.
But this Gutenberg edition, with notes by Charles Lock Eastlake, does not cover that part. Instead, it focuses on colour theory, a substantial portion, which is itself divided into six parts:
Part I: Physiological colours
Part II: Physical colours
Part III: Chemical colours
Part IV: General characteristics
Part V: Relation to other pursuits
Part VI: Effect of colour with reference to moral associations
Each of the parts is further divided into numbered units of thought that actually aid the reader: it’s easier to focus only on the more interesting ideas.
And interesting ideas abound. I’d roughly divide them into:
- Pure observations:
[often used in illusions] 38. A grey object on a black ground appears much brighter than the same object on a white ground.),
[minutiae] 378. In mother-of-pearl we perceive infinitely fine organic fibres and lamellæ in juxta-position, from which, as from the scratched silver before alluded to, varied colours, but especially red and green, may arise.
- Observations during experiments:
65. Let a short, lighted candle be placed at twilight on a sheet of white paper. Between it and the declining daylight let a pencil be placed upright, so that its shadow thrown by the candle may be lighted, but not overcome, by the weak daylight: the shadow will appear of the most beautiful blue.
476. If we hold a penknife in the flame of a light, a coloured stripe will appear across the blade. The portion of the stripe which was nearest to the flame is light blue; this melts into blue-red; the red is in the centre; then follow yellow-red and yellow.
- Anecdotes:
[about the negative afterimage of bright objects that have overstimulated the rods and cones] 52. I had entered an inn towards evening, and, as a well-favoured girl, with a brilliantly fair complexion, black hair, and a scarlet bodice, came into the room, I looked attentively at her as she stood before me at some distance in half shadow. As she presently afterwards turned away, I saw on the white wall, which was now before me, a black face surrounded with a bright light, while the dress of the perfectly distinct figure appeared of a beautiful sea-green.
- Classifications:
140. Light under these circumstances may be affected by three conditions. First, when it flashes back from the surface of a medium; in considering which catoptrical experiments invite our attention. Secondly, when it passes by the edge of a medium: the phenomena thus produced were formerly called perioptical; we prefer the term paroptical. Thirdly, when it passes through either a merely light-transmitting or an actually transparent body; thus constituting a class of appearances on which dioptrical experiments are founded. We have called a fourth class of physical colours epoptical, as the phenomena exhibit themselves on the colourless surface of bodies under various conditions, without previous or actual dye (βαφή).
- Simplifications to contrasts:
Plus. Minus.
Yellow. Blue.
Action. Negation.
Light. Shadow.
Brightness. Darkness.
Force. Weakness.
Warmth. Coldness.
Proximity. Distance.
Repulsion. Attraction.
Affinity with acids. Affinity with alkalis.
- Dated (but historically relevant) generalisations:
840. The female sex in youth is attached to rose-colour and sea-green, in age to violet and dark-green. The fair-haired prefer violet, as opposed to light yellow, the brunettes, blue, as opposed to yellow-red, and all on good grounds. The Roman emperors were extremely jealous with regard to their purple. The robe of the Chinese Emperor is orange embroidered with red; his attendants and the ministers of religion wear citron-yellow.
Naturally, it’s also a pleasure to hunt down the sources for the references found in other books. For example, whilst Kandinsky mentions Goethe only that once (as far as I could tell), I found far more similarities in their strains of thought, so much so, that I feel more credit should have been given to Goethe’s observations of colour expansions and contractions, colour passivity and activity, and the connection of colour to sound.
748. Colour and sound do not admit of being directly compared together in any way, but both are referable to a higher formula, both are derivable, although each for itself, from this higher law. They are like two rivers which have their source in one and the same mountain, but subsequently pursue their way under totally different conditions in two totally different regions, so that throughout the whole course of both no two points can be compared. Both are general, elementary effects acting according to the general law of separation and tendency to union, of undulation and oscillation, yet acting thus in wholly different provinces, in different modes, on different elementary mediums, for different senses.
And there is so much more. The book is a deep, branching compendium of observations and opinion, which is why writers, artists, and philosophers return to Goethe’s Theory. Refusing to read it would be like insisting on reinventing all the different (colour) wheels, when you could instead be studying their properties.
September 26, 2020
Kuukauden kestänyt syventymiseni väreihin ja värioppiin on viimein tullut päätökseen, kun koko kirja on palalta luettu. Mieletön kulttuuriteko Teokselta viimein julkaista tämä suomeksi, suomentajien projektista nyt puhumattakaan.
Oma mielenkiintoni kirjaa kohtaan on puhtaan harrastajamainen - ja toisaalta myös jollain kutkuttavalla tavalla oman ilmiöpohjaisen opettajuuden syväluotaava kurkistus yhteen mahdolliseen opetusteemaan todella pintaa syvemmin. Goethen kaunokirjallinenkin tapa tutkia värejä, valoa ja näiden yhteisvaikutuksia vie mennessään, ja samalla haastaa. Värioppi tipahtaa tärkeälle paikalle tutkimuksen historiaa, ja vaikka osa näistä havainnoista toki onkin jo varsin vanhentuneita - ihmis- ja luontonäkemysten ongelmallisuuksista puhumattakaan - tuo tämä paljon tähänkin päivään, vähintään tieteenhistorian näkökulmasta.
Tähän oli ihana syventyä, eikä vähiten siksi, että tavallaan tuntui hurjan hilpeältä kuvitella saksalaisjäbää painelemassa silmiään kaksi vuosisataa sitten, ja kirjaamassa näitä havaintojaan ylös myös jälkipolville.
Oma mielenkiintoni kirjaa kohtaan on puhtaan harrastajamainen - ja toisaalta myös jollain kutkuttavalla tavalla oman ilmiöpohjaisen opettajuuden syväluotaava kurkistus yhteen mahdolliseen opetusteemaan todella pintaa syvemmin. Goethen kaunokirjallinenkin tapa tutkia värejä, valoa ja näiden yhteisvaikutuksia vie mennessään, ja samalla haastaa. Värioppi tipahtaa tärkeälle paikalle tutkimuksen historiaa, ja vaikka osa näistä havainnoista toki onkin jo varsin vanhentuneita - ihmis- ja luontonäkemysten ongelmallisuuksista puhumattakaan - tuo tämä paljon tähänkin päivään, vähintään tieteenhistorian näkökulmasta.
Tähän oli ihana syventyä, eikä vähiten siksi, että tavallaan tuntui hurjan hilpeältä kuvitella saksalaisjäbää painelemassa silmiään kaksi vuosisataa sitten, ja kirjaamassa näitä havaintojaan ylös myös jälkipolville.
May 11, 2011
Only book on color you'll ever need!
June 2, 2021
When I began to illustrate my poems with painting I found several books that helped me to understand my own artistic process and elements of technique and color. I had some help from art Teachers, students and classes later on as well. One of these books was The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques by Ralph Mason. I recently found another book by Goethe that is also informative and revelatory at the same time titled titled Theory of Colors. I find that Theory of Colors is also grounded in the teachings of Goethe's "The Poet's Year" which I discovered early on as a map for Poets of any age. Goethe mentions that "Color is the speech of the soul of Nature" and "The whole of daily life from waking to sleeping is passed in the midst of a ceaselessly-changing sea of colors." Goethe's Theory of Colours is a brilliant exploration of a world all around us often taken for granted.
October 16, 2013
My favorite chapter was brown!
October 27, 2008
Goethe plays a game of marbles with his eyeballs. You can join him, but you have to play by his rules; and they won't always be fair. I wasn't able to follow along with most of the demonstrations because I didn't have prisms, colored glass and candles handy... this book should really come with a little lab kit.
April 2, 2021
Goethe vs Newton
September 18, 2017
O que me fez interessar por obra tão desconhecida de Goethe, foi certa vez ter ouvido na aula de Cosmologia e Astrologia Medieval do prof. Luiz Gonzaga de Carvalho Neto (Gugu) que, do ponto de vista simbólico, as cores primárias (vermelho, amarelo e azul) e as secundárias (verde, laranja e roxo) representam as etapas pelas quais passam os estados de consciência do ser humano. É um movimento descendente-ascendente que parte da consciência do ser de que não tem a posse daquilo que deseja (roxo-trevas) passando pelos vários estágios (azul, verde, vermelho, laranja) até a consciência da interiorização e decisão na própria alma tomado a posse daquilo que deseja (amarelo - luz).
E a obra de Goethe tem tudo a ver com isso. Ele descobriu aspectos que, até então, o principal teórico das cores , Newton, ignorava, principalmente sobre a fisiologia e psicologia das cores. Ao escrever sua Teoria, cem anos após Newton, Goethe utilizou seus conhecimentos de ciências naturais para explicar a cor sob o ponto de vista fenomenológico. Em uma carta a Humbolt , Goethe explica que ao embarcar na História da Teoria das Cores, ele desejava criar uma “História do Espírito Humano”.
Enfim, A Doutrina das Cores é um estudo que busca ordenar e combinar o fenômeno das cromático para entender os princípios que regem e como essa ordenação nos leva a uma diferenciação em termos de estética.
Considero o estilo dessa obra denso (apesar de ser um livrinho curto), com alternações ora escrita poética ora científica, difícil de ler, que no entanto desperta a imaginação de qualquer amante da arte.
Cada olhar envolve uma observação, cada observação uma reflexão, cada
reflexão uma síntese: ao olharmos atentamente para o mundo já estamos
teorizando. Devemos, porém, teorizar e proceder com consciência,
autoconhecimento, liberdade e – se for preciso usar uma palavra audaciosa –
com ironia: tal destreza é indispensável para que a abstração, que receiamos,
não seja prejudicial, e o resultado empírico, que desejamos, nos seja útil e vital.
(Doutrina das Cores – Goethe)
E a obra de Goethe tem tudo a ver com isso. Ele descobriu aspectos que, até então, o principal teórico das cores , Newton, ignorava, principalmente sobre a fisiologia e psicologia das cores. Ao escrever sua Teoria, cem anos após Newton, Goethe utilizou seus conhecimentos de ciências naturais para explicar a cor sob o ponto de vista fenomenológico. Em uma carta a Humbolt , Goethe explica que ao embarcar na História da Teoria das Cores, ele desejava criar uma “História do Espírito Humano”.
Enfim, A Doutrina das Cores é um estudo que busca ordenar e combinar o fenômeno das cromático para entender os princípios que regem e como essa ordenação nos leva a uma diferenciação em termos de estética.
Considero o estilo dessa obra denso (apesar de ser um livrinho curto), com alternações ora escrita poética ora científica, difícil de ler, que no entanto desperta a imaginação de qualquer amante da arte.
Cada olhar envolve uma observação, cada observação uma reflexão, cada
reflexão uma síntese: ao olharmos atentamente para o mundo já estamos
teorizando. Devemos, porém, teorizar e proceder com consciência,
autoconhecimento, liberdade e – se for preciso usar uma palavra audaciosa –
com ironia: tal destreza é indispensável para que a abstração, que receiamos,
não seja prejudicial, e o resultado empírico, que desejamos, nos seja útil e vital.
(Doutrina das Cores – Goethe)
August 1, 2019
Finishing Goethe's treatise on colours, such obssessive descriptions of prismastic experiments makes me imagine Goethe as a Locus Solus case. Very educative on colour theory and composition, also discovered that the sky is a great prismatic colour wheel turning every day above our heads. (I found on youtube these fine lectures that helped me visualize the experiments https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnfVl...)
August 26, 2008
the detail of perception
September 30, 2022
la modernità viene a patti con la scienza. la ricostruzione millimetrica di ciò che si è perduto: i colori non sono, se non nell'interazione della luce con l'oscurità.
February 9, 2015
https://archive.org/details/goethesth...
End of introduction: "In looking a little further round us, we are not without fears that we may fail to satisfy another class of scientific men. By an extraordinary combination of circumstances the theory of colours has been drawn into the province and before the tribunal of the mathematician, a tribunal to which it cannot be said to be amenable. This was owing to its affinity with the other laws of vision which the mathematician was legitimately called upon to treat. It was owing, again, to another circumstance: a great mathematician had investigated the theory of colours, and having been mistaken in his observations as an experimentalist, he employed the whole force of his talent to give consistency to this mistake. Were both these circumstances considered, all misunderstanding would presently be removed, and the mathematician would willingly cooperate with us, especially in the physical department of the theory.
To the practical man, to the dyer, on the other hand, our labour must be altogether acceptable; for it was precisely those who reflected on the facts resulting from the operations of dyeing who were the least satisfied with the old theory: they were the first who perceived the insufficiency of the Newtonian doctrine. The conclusions of men are very different according to the mode in which they approach a science or branch of knowledge ; from which side, through which door they enter. The literally practical man, the manufacturer, whose attention is constantly and forcibly called to the facts which occur under his eye, who experiences benefit or detriment from the application of his convictions, to whom loss of time and money is not indifferent, who is desirous of advancing, who aims at equalling or surpassing what others have accomplished,—such a person feels the unsoundness and erroneousness of a theory much sooner than the man of letters, in whose eyes words consecrated by authority are at last equivalent to solid coin; than the mathematician, whose formula always remains infallible, even although the foundation on which it is constructed may not square with it. Again, to carry on the figure before employed, in entering this theory from the side of painting, from the side of aesthetic* colouring generally, we shall befound to have accomplished a most thankworthy office for the artist. In the sixth part we have endeavoured to define the effects of colour as addressed at once to the eye and mind, with a view to making them more available for the purposes of art. Although much in this portion, and indeed throughout, has been suffered to remain as a sketch, it should be remembered that all theory can in strictness only point out leading principles, under the guidance of which,. practice may proceed with vigour and be enabled to attain legitimate results."
* Æstetic - Belonging to taste as mere internal sense, from [Ancient Greek] to feel; the word was first used by Wolf.-T.
End of introduction: "In looking a little further round us, we are not without fears that we may fail to satisfy another class of scientific men. By an extraordinary combination of circumstances the theory of colours has been drawn into the province and before the tribunal of the mathematician, a tribunal to which it cannot be said to be amenable. This was owing to its affinity with the other laws of vision which the mathematician was legitimately called upon to treat. It was owing, again, to another circumstance: a great mathematician had investigated the theory of colours, and having been mistaken in his observations as an experimentalist, he employed the whole force of his talent to give consistency to this mistake. Were both these circumstances considered, all misunderstanding would presently be removed, and the mathematician would willingly cooperate with us, especially in the physical department of the theory.
To the practical man, to the dyer, on the other hand, our labour must be altogether acceptable; for it was precisely those who reflected on the facts resulting from the operations of dyeing who were the least satisfied with the old theory: they were the first who perceived the insufficiency of the Newtonian doctrine. The conclusions of men are very different according to the mode in which they approach a science or branch of knowledge ; from which side, through which door they enter. The literally practical man, the manufacturer, whose attention is constantly and forcibly called to the facts which occur under his eye, who experiences benefit or detriment from the application of his convictions, to whom loss of time and money is not indifferent, who is desirous of advancing, who aims at equalling or surpassing what others have accomplished,—such a person feels the unsoundness and erroneousness of a theory much sooner than the man of letters, in whose eyes words consecrated by authority are at last equivalent to solid coin; than the mathematician, whose formula always remains infallible, even although the foundation on which it is constructed may not square with it. Again, to carry on the figure before employed, in entering this theory from the side of painting, from the side of aesthetic* colouring generally, we shall befound to have accomplished a most thankworthy office for the artist. In the sixth part we have endeavoured to define the effects of colour as addressed at once to the eye and mind, with a view to making them more available for the purposes of art. Although much in this portion, and indeed throughout, has been suffered to remain as a sketch, it should be remembered that all theory can in strictness only point out leading principles, under the guidance of which,. practice may proceed with vigour and be enabled to attain legitimate results."
* Æstetic - Belonging to taste as mere internal sense, from [Ancient Greek] to feel; the word was first used by Wolf.-T.
Want to read
June 17, 2008recommended by a bearded and bespectacled youth with a studious aspect on the sf muni (or was it boston? I think it was sf)
Read
August 6, 2019Still reeling. I have no idea how to rate this thing, or even to describe it, other than as an unintentional, bizarre comedy.
December 2, 2021
You what?
Read
March 31, 2020tenho certeza que é uma leitura fantástica para aqueles que têm neurônios suficientes pra entender
Read
March 10, 2021when will i ever finish this
August 16, 2019
The contradistinction between science and phenomenology is most clear when you realize that phenomenology attempts no deconstruction through intentional being of the physical self vis a vis to perception. And that is essentially what happens with formal idealism in general. The fundamental classification of Goethe in this proselytizing enterprise.
While Goethe acknowledges fundamentally the purely perceptual nature of color and thus attempts to understand what effects the perception of the colorality or the status of something possessing color (in effect if speaking in relation to its perception).
To Goethe, color is a purely ideal, or absolutely substantive aesthetic construct, which would mean that its existence is purely sensational and this irreducible. And when such perceptions are dealt with it enters the domain of psychology which is probably why Wittegenstein said that that is what Goethe was trying to achieve. As a basic example, Goethe considers black not as a lack of light but defined it as its polar opposite (and no he did not deconstruct it per se).
There is a break in the chain of causality between the perception of color as it is perceived ‘phenomenologically’ and the things which Goethe elaborates as conditions for its modalities of being, which is largely what the text is an exploration of. The first three chapters, Physiological Colors, Physical Colors, and Chemical colors is concerned with this. There are experiments and then very general classifications.
Section 4 goes through some associated abstractions of the phenomenology of color, 5 is its extension to different fields of knowledge, or perspectives, which have a definitive and not a superficial relation to color. (These are rather short sections).
Section 6 is another long section on the association of colors with moralizations or some kind of axiology.
It’s a fundamentally different epistemological methodology than the Newtonian outlook, the scientific outlook absolutely fundamentally for its presuppositions seem to exclude formalizability (which makes sense), but is worth a
read regardless of perhaps its lack of practical utility.
Note this is a very general review so spoiler notif is not on.
While Goethe acknowledges fundamentally the purely perceptual nature of color and thus attempts to understand what effects the perception of the colorality or the status of something possessing color (in effect if speaking in relation to its perception).
To Goethe, color is a purely ideal, or absolutely substantive aesthetic construct, which would mean that its existence is purely sensational and this irreducible. And when such perceptions are dealt with it enters the domain of psychology which is probably why Wittegenstein said that that is what Goethe was trying to achieve. As a basic example, Goethe considers black not as a lack of light but defined it as its polar opposite (and no he did not deconstruct it per se).
There is a break in the chain of causality between the perception of color as it is perceived ‘phenomenologically’ and the things which Goethe elaborates as conditions for its modalities of being, which is largely what the text is an exploration of. The first three chapters, Physiological Colors, Physical Colors, and Chemical colors is concerned with this. There are experiments and then very general classifications.
Section 4 goes through some associated abstractions of the phenomenology of color, 5 is its extension to different fields of knowledge, or perspectives, which have a definitive and not a superficial relation to color. (These are rather short sections).
Section 6 is another long section on the association of colors with moralizations or some kind of axiology.
It’s a fundamentally different epistemological methodology than the Newtonian outlook, the scientific outlook absolutely fundamentally for its presuppositions seem to exclude formalizability (which makes sense), but is worth a
read regardless of perhaps its lack of practical utility.
Note this is a very general review so spoiler notif is not on.
March 9, 2023
Livro bem interessante! Podia vir com um kit pra fazer os testes enquanto lê, porque só usar a imaginação fica complicado (tive que comprar um prisma e criar meu kit haha). Dentro do que fui lendo e pesquisando, ele fala coisas que conversam com a teoria Newtoniana, mas não necessariamente apresenta uma teoria, fica mais na percepção dele sobre as cores (subjetividade), talvez querendo retomar a ideia de contemplação filosófica. Com relação a ele trazer luz ao simbolismo das cores que é dito como precursor da psicologia das cores, dizendo significados das cores que parecem serem fixas, sinceramente, acho um exagero e até ele talvez diria isso. Tem muito fator cultural nas falas dele, inclusive falas um tanto racistas. Mesmo assim, é interessante pra ver como a sociedade atribui valor até nas cores pra talvez estabelecer ideais e comunicação, mas quero ler outros livros sobre esse assunto em específico.
May 17, 2023
Любопытно читать о свойствах сетчатки глаза и глюках видения — те самые цветные круги на белой стене после взгляда на солнце и тому подобные феномены, с которыми постоянно сталкиваешься, но мало о них думаешь. А здесь целая теория и способы ее практики.
Середина и конец книги укатились от цвета в философские рассуждения о различных деятелях науки и их подходу к ее изучению. Немного тоскливо, так как траектория прыжка от темы к теме осталась загадкой. Я слушала перевод. Нужно читать глазами — слишком часто хочется остановиться, чтобы осмыслить прочитанную мысль или применить ее практике.
Середина и конец книги укатились от цвета в философские рассуждения о различных деятелях науки и их подходу к ее изучению. Немного тоскливо, так как траектория прыжка от темы к теме осталась загадкой. Я слушала перевод. Нужно читать глазами — слишком часто хочется остановиться, чтобы осмыслить прочитанную мысль или применить ее практике.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2018
I skimmed large portions of this book which I found uninteresting.
However, the ‘section for artists’ was worth the price of admission. I always found colour abstract and now I see them I need a new light!
Danke Goethe
However, the ‘section for artists’ was worth the price of admission. I always found colour abstract and now I see them I need a new light!
Danke Goethe
January 19, 2023
“Light and darkness, brightness and obscurity, or if a more general expression is preferred, light and its absence, are necessary to the production of color… Color itself is a degree of darkness.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
August 16, 2020
Bíblia. Tudo que se precisa saber sobre cor está nele.
January 17, 2021
Too many spelling mistakes
The electronic version contains too many spelling mistakes. The information is good though. I would recommend another version besides the kindle one.
The electronic version contains too many spelling mistakes. The information is good though. I would recommend another version besides the kindle one.
February 18, 2022
Some concepts may be outdated but it's amazing how far it goes with just observations
March 30, 2022
Lo he querido leer por conocer más sobre Goethe y su genialidad, pero me ha resultado muy complejo, muy difícil de seguir.
February 10, 2023
Uno splendido lavoro in cui il grande poeta tedesco distrugge la semplicistica teoria di Newton.
Read
October 23, 2023Haha ziemlich lustig, weil die Theorien halt nicht stimmen, aber joa, trotzdem interessante Ansätze
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2016
I was curious about this book because I've come across mention of it numerous times, usually in reference to its influence on the work of impressionist painters. Published in 1810 (first English translation 1840), it was surprisingly easy to understand. I did get a bit bogged down with all of the experiments because I didn't try them myself, only imagined their results as Goethe described them - they involved setting up coloured disks on different coloured backgrounds in specific lighting conditions; prisms; opalescent panes of glass and stuff like that.
Goethe did not believe Newton's wavelength theory of colour was correct. I knew this before I even started reading, yet it was startling to come across the following explanation for why shadows on snow may appear violet, blue, or yellow - "accidental vapours diffused in the air." He is a product of his time, of course: "it is worthy of remark that savage nations, uneducated people, and children have a predilection for vivid colours; that animals are excited to rage by certain colours; that people of refinement avoid vivid colours in their dress and the objects that are about them, and seem inclined to banish them altogether from their presence."
In 1820, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote: "Can you lend me the Theory of Colours for a few weeks? It is an important work. His last things are insipid." Other people are still lining up to read this. I'm only halfway through but I can't renew the book because someone else has requested it. I'll wear my pink coat and red hat to return it to the library.
Goethe did not believe Newton's wavelength theory of colour was correct. I knew this before I even started reading, yet it was startling to come across the following explanation for why shadows on snow may appear violet, blue, or yellow - "accidental vapours diffused in the air." He is a product of his time, of course: "it is worthy of remark that savage nations, uneducated people, and children have a predilection for vivid colours; that animals are excited to rage by certain colours; that people of refinement avoid vivid colours in their dress and the objects that are about them, and seem inclined to banish them altogether from their presence."
In 1820, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote: "Can you lend me the Theory of Colours for a few weeks? It is an important work. His last things are insipid." Other people are still lining up to read this. I'm only halfway through but I can't renew the book because someone else has requested it. I'll wear my pink coat and red hat to return it to the library.
April 2, 2017
Goethe's Farhbenlehre 1810 (Theory of Color). A brilliant phenomenological approach counter to Issac Newton's theory, which is that color is just different wavelengths of light. For Goethe, light requires the dark to see. There is no color without both light and dark. Light is energy, and dark is matter/space. Without a medium we don't experience color, like how outer space appears black while we know light is there from the sun, which illuminates the Earth. Blue and yellow are the only pure colors. All others are a mixture. Not all colors are found in light. Pure light is white, pure dark is black, all the colors mixed up is gray. Yellow is light which has been dampened by darkness; Blue is a darkness weakened by light.
The color spectrum is the overlap between light and dark, the meeting of opposites. Light in a dark room, shadow in a lit room. Red is in between yellow and blue. Goethe's color theory inspired the color wheel of chromatic opposites.
The color spectrum is the overlap between light and dark, the meeting of opposites. Light in a dark room, shadow in a lit room. Red is in between yellow and blue. Goethe's color theory inspired the color wheel of chromatic opposites.
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