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The Color Symbolism of Philosophersjwr47
Ewald Hering Colors von Grafik selbst erstellt. Tilo Hauke -
Eigenes Werk. Lizenziert unter Public domain ber Wikimedia Commons
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IntroIn The Man without Qualities Robert Musil uses color
symbolism to explain the Creation of Manwhich as a mythological
model had been documented by Plato.
Musil had chosen to symbolize the contrasting antipodes Male and
Female by color pairs blue andyellow, which had been applied as
antipodes by Goethe as well.
Musil however also considers red and green as antipodes whereas
purple and violet representsynthesis.
Musil's description in chapter 25 The Siamese Twins may be
compared to existing colortheories. One of these theories seems to
match Musil's model: Ewald Hering's color wheel (1874).
In contrast Goethe based his antipodes Blue and Yellow on his
own analysis. Purple-red is to beincluded as an extra, fundamental
color symbol.
According to Miranda's diary records the colors blue, yellow,
red in three South-American flagsseem to have been chosen on the
base of Goethe's discussion with de Miranda.
This symbolism may now be compared to the three of four primary
colors, red, white, blue andpurple, which in the Bible have been
specified as divine commands for the architecture of thetemple.
Fig. 1: Ewald Hering Colors (1874)
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1932: Robert Musil's color symbolismIn Man without qualities
there is a quotation of antipodal color symbolism, which I tried
todecipher.
Musil must have considered yellow and blue as the complementary
color pairs, as well as red andgreen, whereas he considered the
mixture of antipodes violet or purple:
We might dress ourselves in an opposite pattern, Agathe
delightedly responded. Yellowone of us, and the other blue, or red
opposite to green. And our hair might be coloredviolet or
purple1.
The quotation does not meet Goethe's nor Newton's theory.
However searching the web I identifiedthe four color system of
Ewald Hering, explaining Musil's expression. The 4 color system
also hasbeen applied to setup the Natural Color System (NCS).
1874: Ewald Hering's Color wheelThe Natural Color System (NCS)
is a proprietary perceptual color model published by
theScandinavian Colour Institute (Skandinaviska Frginstitutet AB)
of Stockholm, Sweden. It is basedon the color opponency description
of color vision, first proposed by German physiologist
EwaldHering.[1] The system is usually used for matching colors
(using printed reference cards), ratherthan mixing colors.
NCSThe NCS is based on the six elementary color percepts of
human visionthe psychologicalprimariesas described by color
opponencywhite, black, red, yellow, green, and blue.2
Note also that, under normal viewing circumstances, there is no
hue that must be described as amixture of opponent hues; that is,
as a hue looking "redgreen" or "yellowblue" (see note in thecolor
opponents article).
The opponents yellow blue, respectively red & green are
exactly what had been defined asopposite patters in Musil's
quotation. We also know Musil had studied color theory and 1906
evencompleted the design of a color wheel3.
PurplePurple in this system must be interpreted as a mixture of
red and blue. Purple is a special casebecause it is the only color,
which does not exist in the spectral system for (normal4) human
beings.
In the 4-segmented color circle the antipodal element to purple
(yellow-green) is located at thecenter of the rainbow's
spectrum.
1 Own translation from German to English - Page 904-905 in
Rowohlt's Gesammelte Werke von Robert Musil (1978)- Der Mann ohne
Eigenschaften Teil 3 Ins tausendjhrige Reich (chapter 25, The
Siamese Twins).
Original: Wir knnen uns ja auch gerade entgegengesetzt kleiden
entgegnete Agathe belustigt. Gelb der eine, wenn der andere blau
ist, oder rot neben grn, und das Haar knnen wir violett oder
purpurn frben, und ich mache mir einen Buckel und du dir einen
Bauch: und trotzdem sind wir Zwillinge! (904-905) Kapitel 25 -
Projekt Gutenberg-DE - SPIEGEL ONLINE
2 Natural Color System ( NCS )3 Musilscher Farbkreisel4 Of
course the
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1810: Goethe5
Goethe expresses his antipodal system in the contrast based on
darkness (blue) and light (yellow)6:
Yellow is a light which has been dampened by darkness; Blue is a
darkness weakened by light.
Much earlier, in 1774, however Goethe already write a novel The
Sorrows of Young Werther inwhich his clothes had been based on the
colors yellow and blue.
Goethe's main symbol Red (and its antipodal symbol green)If the
edge of a white figure is displaced over a dark boundary by viewing
through a prism, he says(Paragraph 204), a narrow blue edge appears
next to this boundary, and a broader blue-red borderappears next to
the blue edge; but if the edge of a black figure is displaced in
the same way over thelight boundary, a. narrow yellow edge appears
next to the boundary and a broader yellow-red borderappears next to
the yellow edge.
Both types of border colors thus tend toward purple-red7, which
is, for Goethe, the most powerfuland intense of all colors8.
1810: The chromatic circle"The chromatic circle... [is] arranged
in a general way according to the natural order...for the colors
diametrically opposed to each other in this diagram are those
whichreciprocally evoke each other in the eye. Thus, yellow demands
violet; orange[demands] blue; purple-red [demands] green; and vice
versa: thus... all intermediategradations reciprocally evoke each
other; the simpler color demanding the compound,and vice versa
([23] paragraph #50).
5 Source Theory of Colours - The first edition of the
Farbenlehre was printed at the Cottaschen Verlagsbuchhandlung on
May 16, 1810
6 Goethe, Johann (1810). Theory of Colors, paragraph #502. 7
Goethe uses the word Purple, but he refers to Red8 Goethe's Theory
of Colours
Fig. 2: Goethe's circle Fig. 3: Goethe's circleexplained
(horizontally flipped)
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In the same way that light and dark spectra yielded green from
the mixture of blue and yellow Goethe completed his color wheel by
recognizing the importance of non-spectral (extra-spectral)colors
"For Newton, only spectral colors could count as fundamental. By
contrast, Goethe's moreempirical approach led him to recognize the
essential role of (non-spectral) magenta in a completecolor circle,
a role that it still has in all modern color systems."
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1785: Francisco de MirandaDuring a party in Weimar in the winter
of 1785, Goethe had a late-night conversation on his theoryof
primary colors with the South American revolutionary Francisco de
Miranda. This conversationinspired Miranda, as he later recounted,
in his designing the yellow, blue and red flag of GranColombia,
from which the present national flags of Colombia, Venezuela and
Ecuador arederived.9 .
Bandera de Venezuela 1811 by HansenBCN - Own workLicensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-
Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 via Wikimedia Commons
9 See Flag of Colombia#History
Fig. 4: Flag of Venezuela (1811)
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Miranda's reports10
Miranda gave at least two sources of inspiration for his flag.
In a letter written to Count SemyonVorontsov in 1792, Miranda
stated that the colors were based on a theory of primary colors
given tohim by Goethe.
Miranda described a late-night conversation he had with Goethe
at a party in Weimar during thewinter of 1785. Fascinated with
Miranda's account of his exploits in the United StatesRevolutionary
War and his travels throughout the Americas and Europe, Goethe told
him that,
"Your destiny is to create in your land a place where primary
colors are not distorted.
He proceeded to clarify what he meant by this:
First he explained to me the way the iris transforms light into
the three primary colors[] then he proved to me why yellow is the
most warm, noble and closest to [white]light; why blue is that mix
of excitement and serenity, a distance that evokes shadows;and why
red is the exaltation of yellow and blue, the synthesis, the
vanishing of lightinto shadow.
It is not that the world is made of yellows, blues and reds; it
is that in this manner, as ifin an infinite combination of these
three colors, we human beings see it. [] A country[Goethe
concluded] starts out from a name and a flag, and it then becomes
them, just asa man fulfils his destiny.
The Flag of the Burgers' Guard of Hamburg11 In his military
diary, Miranda gave another source of inspiration: the yellow, blue
and red standardof the Burgers' Guard (Brgerwache) of Hamburg,
which he also saw during his travels inGermany.
10 Source: Venezuelan flag11 Source: Venezuelan flag
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Biblical Color Symbolism12
September 2012 I was lucky to discover some sources for color
symbolism. First of all I foundFrederick Solomon's Critique of
Modern Art13 in which the background of ancient symbolism
isexplained. Only a few samples will be listed here from my
analysis: The Symbolism of the ColorsPurple, White, Red (Uploaded
09/05/12).
Solomon refers to some interesting historical examples
including:
The symbolic value of colors, its message for every symbol has a
message can only beunderstood if its meaning is known. The
Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna for instance cannotbe understood
unless one knows, that is, he as heard and learned what they stand
for. Evenfor the uninitiated such art may be beautiful and full of
atmosphere, indeed complete as toits artistic value; but only if
one knows that blue means charity and red means love will hebe able
to read the paintings and understand their message (page 211)
The symbols were put there to be understood, and that was not
even difficult as theirmeaning was handed down from generation to
generation (page 211).
Colors in Oriental Carpets have a definite meaning only for the
initiate (page 217)
In Critique of Modern Art14 Frederick Solomon also quotes
Josephus (37 c. 100AD), whoexplained the ancient biblical color
symbols of the temple at Jerusalem as a symbol of the universein
his work: The Wars Of The Jews15, Book V - Chapter 5. Section 4 in:
A Description Of TheTemple:
But then this house, as it was divided into two parts, the inner
part was lower than the appearance ofthe outer, and had golden
doors of fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen in breadth; but
before thesedoors there was a veil of equal largeness with the
doors. It was a Babylonian curtain, embroideredwith blue, and fine
linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly
wonderful.Nor was this mixture of colors without its mystical
interpretation, but was a kind of image of theuniverse; for by the
scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the
fine white (?)flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the
purple the sea; two of them having their colors thefoundation of
this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have their own
origin for thatfoundation, the earth producing the one, and the sea
the other. This curtain had also embroideredupon it all that was
mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the [twelve] signs,
representing livingcreatures.
Another reference is given in the description of Moses'
Tabernacle in the Wilderness, for which theBible prescribes the use
of four elementary colors: blue, scarlet, purple and white.
HoweverJosephus does not explain these colors yet, although these
are the same colors which have beendocumented for the temple:
HEREUPON the Israelites rejoiced at what they had seen and heard
of their conductor, andwere not wanting in diligence according to
their ability; for they brought silver, and gold,and brass, and of
the best sorts of wood, and such as would not at all decay by
putrefaction;camels' hair also, and sheep-skins, some of them dyed
of a blue color, and some of a scarlet;some brought the flower for
the purple color, and others for white, with wool dyed by
theflowers aforementioned; and fine linen and precious stones,
which those that use costlyornaments set in ouches of gold; they
brought also a great quantity of spices; for of thesematerials did
Moses build the tabernacle, which did not at all differ from a
movable andambulatory temple.
12 The Symbolism of the Colors Purple, White, Red and Blue 13
Critique of Modern Art by Frederick Solomon (1970)14 Critique of
Modern Art by Frederick Solomon (1970)15 The History Of The
Destruction Of Jerusalem
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These four basic color symbols red, blue, purple and white have
been found in many templedecorations, tomb decorations, medieval
bible illustration, sacred paintings, religious garments, aswell as
in coat of arms and flags.
The four colors represented the four elements air, fire, sea and
earth. Although their symbolismmay have been extended and altered
since Josephus, the color symbolism generally formed thefundamental
base for sacred paintings.
Basically the color scheme is fourfold and includes white, which
often is referred to as fine linen.The description notes the
absence of the figures of animals
Now on each side of the gates there stood three pillars, which
were inserted into the concavebases of the gates, and were suited
to them; and round them was drawn a curtain of finelinen; but to
the gates themselves, which were twenty cubits in extent, and five
in height, thecurtain was composed of purple, and scarlet, and
blue, and fine linen, and embroidered withmany and divers sorts of
figures, excepting the figures of animals.
...
But at the front, where the entrance was made, they placed
pillars of gold, that stood onbases of brass, in number seven; but
then they spread over the tabernacle veils of fine linenand purple,
and blue, and scarlet colors, embroidered.
...
It (the priests' vestment) is embroidered with flowers of
scarlet, and purple, and blue, andfine twined linen, but the warp
was nothing but fine linen.
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AnalysisIn textiles twining had been considered as a symbol for
stabilizing social patterns. The symbolismmay have been based on
intertwining red & blue o purple (magenta as a mixture of 50%
red and50% blue).
In the Bible, purple, red and blue are a color triad which had
been prescribed as a divine commandin the temple's architecture and
may have been derived from the rainbow's border colors red &
blue.As a mixture of red & blue purple cannot be identified as
a singular component within the rainbow'sspectrum. Therefore red
and blue are to be considered as opponents and purple as a
synthesissymbol.
Goethe's color circle consists of 6 colors, starting at the
bottom with green, which is surrounded bythe primary colors yellow
and blue. Further north we find the transit colors yellow-red
(orange) andblue-red (magenta) which culminate at the top
color-element red.
Ewald Hering's color circle (1874) had been based on two
antipodal pairs yellow& blue,respectively red & green,
which normally will not produce a mix hue.
Purple (magenta) has been considered a divine or imperial symbol
which may have been derivedfrom weaving the border colors of the
rainbow. Green may be woven from yellow and blue, but incontrast to
magenta green is a spectral component of the rainbow's
spectrum.
Musil, Goethe and Ewald Hering's color circle use yellow and
blue as antipodes. Musil and EwaldHering's color circle use red and
green as antipodes.
Complexity, which may even be complicated by unknown further
color systems allowed to considernearly any combination of primary
colors as antipodes respectively synthesis-symbol, for
instance:
Antipodal couple Synthesis-SymbolGoethe Yellow & Blue Red
(or to be more precise: Purple-red)Musil Yellow & Blue
Blue & RedViolet (?)Purple (as 50% Red + 50% Blue)
Bible Rood & Blue Magenta (50% Red + 50% Blue)Ewald Hering
Yellow & Blue
Blue & Red-
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Appendix: Complementary color16
Ancient complementary color pairsThe pairs of Complementary
color vary depending upon the color model, and how the color
ismade. In painting, which uses subtractive colors, the traditional
primarysecondary complementarycolor pairs, described since at least
the early 18th century, were redgreen, yellowviolet, and
blueorange.
Modern complementary color pairsIn the more accurate RGB color
model, used to make colors on computer and television displays,red,
green and blue light are combined at various intensities to make
all the other colors. In thissystem, using additive colors, the
complementary pairs are redcyan, greenmagenta, and blueyellow. In
color printing, another system of subtractive colors, the colors
cyan, magenta, yellow and blackare used to produce all printed
colors; the CMYK-system complementary pairs are the same as inthe
RGB system: redcyan, greenmagenta, and blueyellow.
ContentsIntro..................................................................................................................................................11932:
Robert Musil's color
symbolism............................................................................................2
1874: Ewald Hering's Color
wheel............................................................................................2NCS.............................................................................................................................................2Purple..........................................................................................................................................2
1810:
Goethe....................................................................................................................................3Goethe's
main symbol Red (and its antipodal symbol
green).....................................................31810:
The chromatic
circle..........................................................................................................3
1785: Francisco de
Miranda............................................................................................................5Miranda's
reports.........................................................................................................................6The
Flag of the Burgers' Guard of Hamburg
............................................................................6
Biblical Color
Symbolism...............................................................................................................7Analysis...........................................................................................................................................9Appendix:
Complementary color
..................................................................................................10
Ancient complementary color
pairs..........................................................................................10Modern
complementary color
pairs..........................................................................................10
16 Source: Complementary color
Intro1932: Robert Musil's color symbolism1874: Ewald Hering's
Color wheelNCSPurple
1810: Goethe5Goethe's main symbol Red (and its antipodal symbol
green)1810: The chromatic circle
1785: Francisco de MirandaMiranda's reports10The Flag of the
Burgers' Guard of Hamburg11
Biblical Color Symbolism12AnalysisAppendix: Complementary
color16Ancient complementary color pairsModern complementary color
pairs