<p>Color theory is not the same as color science. The color wheel is more properly <strong>A</strong> color wheel - as in one of many, because there are very, very many competing systems of color. Since you are speaking neither scientifically nor semantically, and we have neither insight into your cultural background - nor the ability to look at your version of light, lime green, all we can offer is color sociology, as the last domain standing...</p>
<p><strong>Choose the color you take because you liked it.</strong> If someone tells you that a color is wrong based on a system of gradients that somebody (probably not them) mapped to a circular shape like a pie-chart, politely remind them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Prevailing 18th and 19th century German color theory for example, showed that both Goethe and Itten made their respective color theories “contemporary” with radically different systems. From a sociological perspective both were right, from a scientific perspective both were wrong. Outside of their cultural epoch, these systems reveal themselves as methods for telling us more about the people than about colors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In response to @creationEdge’s comment about the quote (from myself above), the so-called “artist’s color wheel” as we know it today is a remnant of the teachings of the Bauhaus in Weimar that were regurgitated by that school’s “Meister”, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Itten" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Johannes Itten</a>, in 1973 and successfully (as the comments to this response show) introduced as a method of indoctrinating a culturally (not scientifically) defined color-theory to art students.</p>
<p>This is his work:
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/s4ZlB.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/s4ZlB.png" alt="ittens farbkreis" /></a></p>
<p>It reflected pseudo-futurist sentiments about the salvation of humanity through technology and the very German distribution of interconnectedness through “specialization”. My main critique of this “system” is that mixing opposing colors (red and green, blue and orange etc.) should produce black, but it invariably creates a muddy brown.</p>
<p>Speaking of brown, the famous polymath Goethe also designed a color-wheel, and although the natural pigments he used have faded with time’s passage, his (and Schiller’s) work reflected their cultural dependence on nature as opposed to technology. This is his color wheel from 1810:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/p1jXy.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/p1jXy.jpg" alt="Goethe's color wheel" /></a></p>
<p>And as very thoroughly described on Wikipedia (although the German version is written much better) here we can see through to Goethe’s intention of anthropocentric color theory:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/g8fBU.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/g8fBU.jpg" alt="Goethe's colored emotions" /></a></p>
<p>If someone wants you to believe that some color has a “universal” meaning outside of culture, show them this picture:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7ABwo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7ABwo.png" alt="Found on Reddit" /></a></p>
<p>For insight into a parallel from computer science about how training bias can go too far in education (which is the entire point of this response to your question), feel free to read this article. Although not specifically about color, it speaks about the perils of training sets.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44040008" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44040008</a></p>
<p>So what is the answer? Don’t trust your art teachers, because they learned a skewed theory of color. If you need to have a scientific explanation for colors, I recommend considering the complete spectrum of color including both reflected and projected light. The full spectrum includes eight colors:</p>
<ul>
<li>Red</li>
<li>Green</li>
<li>Blue</li>
<li>White</li>
<li>Yellow</li>
<li>Cyan</li>
<li>Magenta</li>
<li>Black</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-04T08:34:20.160Z
Same for me, I got an article about a psychopathic AI called Norman.
walrus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-16T09:36:05.387Z
@CreationEdge - Color has always been a very decisive matter, as we are seeing here. For your information, I wrote the “quote”,. The “artist’s color wheel” as you call it, is only one part of the entire scientific system of color.
Nothingismagick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-02T03:25:11.660Z
2022-10-09T16:31:40.143Z
2022-10-09T16:31:40.143Z
Nothingismagick
<p>I’m currently working on an art project and came to a barrier. I need to implement a third color that is asssociated with one another based on the color wheel and color theory, to these colors as shown in the picture:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ABbIO.jpg" alt="Image of artwork; print">
(It’s a print) </p>

<p>I’m thinking a light, lime green could achieve this; however, I’m uncertain and some second thoughts could help.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-01T08:19:44.897Z
When you say add a *third* colour, which two of the three colours in the picture (purple/orange/yellow) are you adding it to?
walrus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-01T12:44:39.210Z
"Based on the color wheel and color theory" - not sure I understand this part, are you trying to ask what color scheme (e.g. split complementary, triadic, etc.) these colors could be described as, and what a third color in that scheme would be?
user812786
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-02T03:27:09.203Z
There are already three colors in the photograph. So do you mean we should ignore the yellow?
Nothingismagick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-06T23:32:52.807Z
Based on those colors in which way? We did exercises in producing related colors in terms of transparency (as if the colors are layered films) as well as simply making primary and secondary complementary hues.
rebusB
<color><color-theory>
Need advice on a color that matches this color theory
Brennan
# Need advice on a color that matches this color theory

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-31)

I’m currently working on an art project and came to a barrier. I need to implement a third color that is asssociated with one another based on the color wheel and color theory, to these colors as shown in the picture:

![Image of artwork; print](https://i.sstatic.net/ABbIO.jpg)
(It’s a print)

I’m thinking a light, lime green could achieve this; however, I’m uncertain and some second thoughts could help.

**Tags:** color, color-theory

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: When you say add a *third* colour, which two of the three colours in the picture (purple/orange/yellow) are you adding it to?  
> **username_2**: "Based on the color wheel and color theory" - not sure I understand this part, are you trying to ask what color scheme (e.g. split complementary, triadic, etc.) these colors could be described as, and what a third color in that scheme would be?  
> **username_3**: There are already three colors in the photograph. So do you mean we should ignore the yellow?  
> **username_4**: Based on those colors in which way? We did exercises in producing related colors in terms of transparency (as if the colors are layered films) as well as simply making primary and secondary complementary hues.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-06-02. Score: 1

Color theory is not the same as color science. The color wheel is more properly **A** color wheel - as in one of many, because there are very, very many competing systems of color. Since you are speaking neither scientifically nor semantically, and we have neither insight into your cultural background - nor the ability to look at your version of light, lime green, all we can offer is color sociology, as the last domain standing...

**Choose the color you take because you liked it.** If someone tells you that a color is wrong based on a system of gradients that somebody (probably not them) mapped to a circular shape like a pie-chart, politely remind them:

> Prevailing 18th and 19th century German color theory for example, showed that both Goethe and Itten made their respective color theories “contemporary” with radically different systems. From a sociological perspective both were right, from a scientific perspective both were wrong. Outside of their cultural epoch, these systems reveal themselves as methods for telling us more about the people than about colors.

In response to @creationEdge’s comment about the quote (from myself above), the so-called “artist’s color wheel” as we know it today is a remnant of the teachings of the Bauhaus in Weimar that were regurgitated by that school’s “Meister”, [Johannes Itten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Itten), in 1973 and successfully (as the comments to this response show) introduced as a method of indoctrinating a culturally (not scientifically) defined color-theory to art students.

This is his work:
[![ittens farbkreis](https://i.sstatic.net/s4ZlB.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/s4ZlB.png)

It reflected pseudo-futurist sentiments about the salvation of humanity through technology and the very German distribution of interconnectedness through “specialization”. My main critique of this “system” is that mixing opposing colors (red and green, blue and orange etc.) should produce black, but it invariably creates a muddy brown.

Speaking of brown, the famous polymath Goethe also designed a color-wheel, and although the natural pigments he used have faded with time’s passage, his (and Schiller’s) work reflected their cultural dependence on nature as opposed to technology. This is his color wheel from 1810:

[![Goethe's color wheel](https://i.sstatic.net/p1jXy.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/p1jXy.jpg)

And as very thoroughly described on Wikipedia (although the German version is written much better) here we can see through to Goethe’s intention of anthropocentric color theory:

[![Goethe's colored emotions](https://i.sstatic.net/g8fBU.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/g8fBU.jpg)

If someone wants you to believe that some color has a “universal” meaning outside of culture, show them this picture:

[![Found on Reddit](https://i.sstatic.net/7ABwo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/7ABwo.png)

For insight into a parallel from computer science about how training bias can go too far in education (which is the entire point of this response to your question), feel free to read this article. Although not specifically about color, it speaks about the perils of training sets.

<http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44040008>

So what is the answer? Don’t trust your art teachers, because they learned a skewed theory of color. If you need to have a scientific explanation for colors, I recommend considering the complete spectrum of color including both reflected and projected light. The full spectrum includes eight colors:

* Red
* Green
* Blue
* White
* Yellow
* Cyan
* Magenta
* Black

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Same for me, I got an article about a psychopathic AI called Norman.  
> **username_3**: @CreationEdge - Color has always been a very decisive matter, as we are seeing here. For your information, I wrote the “quote”,. The “artist’s color wheel” as you call it, is only one part of the entire scientific system of color.  

---

