COP: LECTURE 5 Why is the apple red?

Who explored colour theory?

Josef Albers 1888-1976
Johannes Itten The art of colour 1888 - 1967

All colour is contextual

Chromatic value = Hue, Tone + Saturation

Colour itself is three dimensional
Colour is not pure colour is a theory. There are an entire range of colours

There are different types of colours primary, secondary and tertiary

Primary hues relate to pigment - physical colour

Primary- Red, Yellow, Blue

Secondary-Orange, green, purple

Complementary colours links to the relationships of the colour wheel. Colours opposite each other on the colour wheel are complementary

Missing complementary colours creates neutrals

When a single cone is stimulated, the brain perceives the corresponding colour.

If our green cones are stimulated we see 'green'
If our red cones are stimulated we see 'red'
If both our green and red-orange cones are simultaneously stimulated, our perception is 'yellow'

We can only percieve 3 colours red, green and blue

Spectral colour

The eye cannot differentiate between spectural yellow, and some combination of red and green.
Same effect happens for our perception on cyan, magenta, and the other in-between spectral colours.

Colour is... Physical- Physiological - psychological 


The eye can be fooled into seeing the full range of visible colours through the proportionate adjustment of just three colours: red, green and blue. This is a physiological.