Abstract
Any presentation of a theory of colour presupposes a deep understanding of the nature of colour per se. Once understood that there is no such thing as colour in nature and that colour is purely a subjective sensation fabricated in the brains of the living beings, and developed simply (or, maybe, not so simply) for survival, things get complicated. As colour is not an objective phenomenon in nature, no theory can be developed that could stand if the observer is excluded from the equation. Of course, this insight had not become common sense till the beginning of modern thinking; actually, any layperson would not accept it even today. What is certain to come to mind is the pressing question, so, how then humans are so certain they see colours?
Plato, The Republic
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Notes
- 1.
The chapter regarding the colour theory of the ancient Greeks can be found online @ http://scholarworks.umass.edu/art_jbgc/6/. Another important online resource of historical information can be found @ http://www.color-theory-phenomena.nl/08.00.html on Paul Schils’ website on Color Phenomena.
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Pavlidis, G. (2021). Introduction. In: A Brief History of Colour Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87771-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87771-2_1
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