Color Theory: Organizing and Mixing Colors
Sir Isaac Newton’s (1642 – 1727) discovery of the color spectrum led him to develop a color wheel that included seven colors, similar to the seven musical notes found in a major scale.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) defined three of the colors (red, yellow, and blue) on his color wheel as primary colors because he believed they could be mixed together to create all other colors.
Mixing Colors:
Additive Color Mixing occurs when different colors of light are mixed together. Through experimentation, James Clerk Maxwell (1831 – 1879) demonstrated that red, green, and blue lights can be combined to create all other colors.
Subtractive Color Mixing occurs when different colored pigments are combined. One example of subtractive color mixing can be found in process printing. In process printing, the colors cyan, magenta, and yellow are combined to create all other colors.
Perhaps we need a more modern color wheel based on the discoveries of James Clerk Maxwell?