Color Theory

In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combination. There are also definitions (or categories) of colors based on the color wheel: primary color, secondary color and tertiary color. Although color theory principles first appeared in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti (c.1435) and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (c.1490), a tradition of "colory theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy around Isaac Newton's theory of color (Opticks, 1704) and the nature of so-called primary colors. From there it developed as an independent artistic tradition with only superficial reference to colorimetry and vision science.

Read more about Color Theory:  Color Abstractions, Historical Background, Current Status

Famous quotes containing the words color and/or theory:

    Since the quarrel
    Will bear no color for the thing he is,
    Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented,
    Would run to these and these extremities.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Frankly, these days, without a theory to go with it, I can’t see a painting.
    Tom Wolfe (b. 1931)