Synonyms
Definition
A sense of accord and balance among colors in a visual composition or design, resulting in a positive affective response and/or cognitive judgment about color combination.
Color Harmony Theories
Many theories about color harmony have evolved since antiquity across different fields including art, design, psychology, and physics. Each of these has a different focus, and hence there is little consensus in terms of defining and describing the construct “color harmony.” Most theories about color harmony are highly prescriptive, and this is their weakness – they assume that responses to color are deterministic, uniform, universal, and fixed irrespective of context rather than idiographic, less deterministic, and open to the influence of factors relating to culture and context.
The problem of color harmony has long been regarded as an esoteric matter for the artist. But since the advent of interdisciplinary research on colors, color harmony...
References
O’Connor, Z.: Color harmony revisited. Color. Res. Appl. 35(4), 267–273 (2010)
Rumford, T.B.: Recherche sur la Couleur. Paul Migne, Paris (1804)
Goethe, J.W.: Zur Farbenlehre. Cotta, Tübingen (1810)
Chevreul, M.E.: The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colours. Bell and Daldy, Cambridge (1879)
Noon, P., et al.: Delacroix. In: Crossing the Channel: British and French Painting in the Age of Romanticism, p. 58. Tate Publishing, London (2003)
“Seurat”: Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, New York (2007)
Ferretti-Bocquillon, M., et al.: Signac, 1863–1935. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2001)
Hölzel, A.: Lehre von der harmonischen Áquivalenz. Longen, München (1910)
Kandinsky, W.: The Art of Spiritual Harmony. Houghton Mifflin, London (1914)
Klee, P.: Pedagogisches Skizzenbuch. Longen, München (1925)
Itten, J.: The Art of Color. Van Rostand Reinhold, New York (1961)
Albers, J.: Interaction of Color. Yale University, New Haven (1975)
Moholy-Nagy, L.: Vision in Motion. Theobald, Chicago (1961)
Droste, M.: Bauhaus 1919–1933. (Bauhaus Archiv) – Taschen/Vince K (2003)
Krawkow, G.V.: Das Farbsehen. Akad Verlag, Berlin (1955)
Newton, I.: The principia: mathematical principles of natural philosophy. University of California Press, Berkeley (1999)
Hoffmann, J.L.: Versuch einer Geschichte der malerischen Harmonie uberhaupt und der Farbenharmonie insbesondere. Hendel, Halle (1786)
Runge, P.O.: Die Farbenkugel. Nossack, Hamburg (1810)
Ostwald, W.: Die Farbenlehre. Unesma, Leipzig (1923)
Plochere, G.: Plochere Color System. Vista, Los Angeles (1948)
Pfeiffer, H.E.: L’Harmonie des Couleurs. Dunod, Paris (1966)
Rosentsthiel, C.: Traité de la Couleur. Dunod, Paris (1934)
Fechner, G.T.: Element der Psychophysik. Breitkopf und Hârtel, Leipzig (1860)
Munsell, A.H.: Munsell Book of Color. MunselI Colour, Baltimore (1942)
Munsell, A.H.: A Grammar of Color. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York (1969)
Moon, P., Spencer, D.E.: Area in color harmony. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 34, 93 (1944)
Moon, M., Spencer, D.E.: Aesthetic measure applied to color harmony. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 34, 4 (1944)
Dimmick, F.L.: The dependence of auditory experience upon wave amplitude. Am. J. Psychol. 45, 463 (1933)
Boring, E.G.: History of Experimental Psychology. Apleton-Century-Crofst, New York (1950)
Mori, N., Nayatani, V., Tsujimoto, A., Ikeda, J., Namba, S.: An appraisal of two-colour harmony by paired comparison method. Acta Chromatica (Tokyo). 1, 22 (1967)
Katz, D.: The World of Colour. Kegan Paul, Trench (1935)
Gelb, A.: Die “Farbenkonstanz” der Sehdinge. In: Bethe, A., v. Bergmann, G., Embden, G., Ellinger, A. (eds.) Handbuch der Normalen und Pathologischen Physiologie, pp. 594–678. Springer, Berlin (1929)
Granit, R.: Sensory Mechanisms of the Retina. Oxford University Press, London (1947)
Matiss, H.: Les Notices d’une Peintre. Dounod, Paris (1908)
“Piet Mondrian”, Tate gallery, published in Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery’s Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, London (1981)
Nemcsics, A.: Colour Dynamics. Environmental Colour Design. Ellis Horwood, New York (1993)
Nemcsics, A.: Experimental determination of laws of color harmony. Part 1–8. Color Res. Appl. 32(6), 477–488 (2007); 33(4), 262–270 (2008); 34(1), 33–44 (2009); 34(3), 210–224 (2009); 36(2), 127–139 (2011); 37(5), 343–358 (2012), online 2013
Nemcsics, A.: Coloroid colour system. Color. Res. Appl. 5, 113–120 (1980)
Hard, A., Sivik, L.: A theory of colors combination – a descriptive modes related to the NCS color order system. Color. Res. Appl. 26(1), 4–28 (2001)
Brandi, C.: Art Italian. Art, Milano (1985)
Hume, D.: Natural History of Religion, Edinburgh (1952)
Alberti, L.B.: De Pictura, Basel (1540)
Polloch, P.J.: Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center, New York (2000)
Warhol, A.: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B & Back Again). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York (1975)
Brusatin, M.: Colore Senza Nome. Marsilio, Venice (2006)
Bill, M.: Funktion und Funktionalismus. Schriften 1945–1988. Benteli, Bern (2008)
Hartung, H., Alley, R.: Hans Hartung. Oxford Art Online (2001)
Pesce: Design Excellence Award of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2005)
Flavin, D.: The Complete Lights, 1961–1996 by Michael Govan and Tiffany Bell, p. 49. Yale University Press, New Haven (2004)
Bill Viola: The Eye of the Heart. Dir. Mark Kidal [DVD]. Film for the Humanities & Sciences (2005)
Grazia Toderi. Charta, Milan (2004)
Argan, G.C.: Design e mass media. Op.cit. (Milan) (1965)
Luzzatto, L., Pompas, R.: COLORI e MODA. Bompiani, Milano (2018). ISBN 978-88-452-9748-9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Nemcsics, A., O’Connor, Z., Pompas, R. (2021). Color Harmony. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_239-5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_239-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Color Harmony- Published:
- 27 November 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_239-5
-
Original
Color Harmony- Published:
- 29 September 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_239-4