The Color WheelThe Color Wheel

Lesson Objective: Students willrecreate the color wheel using

original designs.

Survey of World Art

The Color Wheel

History of Color Theory • The first color wheel was invented by Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727).

He was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist and theologian.

• He invented the reflecting telescope and developed a theory of colour based on the observation that a prism (wedge shaped glass) decomposes white light into a visible spectrum.

• He split white sunlight into red, orange, yellow, green, cyan (violet) , and blue beams; then he joined the two ends of the color spectrum together to show the natural progression of colors.

Current Color Theory• The current form of color theory was developed by Johannes Itten

(1888-1967), a Swiss color and art theorist who was teaching at the School of Applied Arts in Weimar, Germany. This school is also known as 'Bauhaus‘ (1919-1933).

• Johannes Itten modified the color wheel. Itten's color wheel is based on red, yellow, and blue colors as the primary triad and includes twelve hues.

Psychological/Cultural Meanings of Colors 1. Cultural associations: the color of currency, traditions, celebrations,

geography, etc. (For example, green is associated with heaven (Muslims) and luck (U.S. and Ireland)

2. Political and historical associations: the color of flags, political parties, royalty, etc. (For example, green is the color of Libya's flag; it’s the favorite color of Emperor Hirohito and the source of "Green Day" in Japan, and in the U.S., the Green Party.)

3. Religious and mythical associations: the colors associated with spiritual or magical beliefs (For example, in contemporary Western culture, green is associated with extraterrestrial beings.)

Primary Colors

Secondary colors

Tertiary Colors

Tint and Shade

ShadeAdding black is referred to

as a shade.

TintAdding white to a color is

known as a tint.

Intensity

Brightness or dullness of a color

1. Write 1 on the primary colors2. Write 2 on the secondary colors3. Write 3 on the tertiary colors

1

1 1

2 2

2

3

3 3

3

3 3