Theory of Colours

The Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's color theory going back is contained in Goethe's work to color theory. There he observed the considerations made ​​for many years and experiments on the nature of the color dar. Goethe tried the phenomenon of color in its entirety - that is not only one-sided physical means or by an aesthetic or other point of view - to capture and describe. But recognition he reached only with the section " Physiological color ", which contains the findings on color perception. He was wrong, especially in the section " Physical Colors", which was intended by him as a refutation of the data originating mainly from Isaac Newton scientific knowledge. Goethe himself valued the results of his research on a color higher than that of his entire literary work.

The work

The work consists of a collection of individual works:

• Contributions to the chromaticism Attempt to discover the elements of color theory
• Of the colored shadows

1820 still appeared a postscript:

• Additions to the theory of color. Entoptic colors.

This most comprehensive of his works estimated Goethe at least as high as his poetic work and he tried all his life to intensive dissemination and scientific recognition of his theory of colors, such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. But while the color theory of Goethe appealed to artists such as Philipp Otto Runge and William Turner, Goethe's views against Isaac Newton's theory of light already established in the science of his time were not successful. Newton had colors correctly understood as components of white light, whereas Goethe tried to show that the white light is not composed and colors result from an interaction of light and darkness. In this sense, he interpreted the so-called edge spectra, which he saw on a light background and light stripes on a dark background through a prism when viewing a dark stripe. This experiment was the ultimate experience for developing his own theory of color for him.

The history of ideas and science historically significant color theory today is because they documented Goethe's holistic approach to the observation of nature and his powers of observation. It demonstrates his preference for the view over the abstraction. For this view and the subjective feeling, he led from the psychological effects of color on people and thus developed a kind of color psychology.

Goethe took part in many scientific discoveries of his time and was an active part of many researchers of his time in letter, or by personal contact. For the scientific interest of Goethe, the influence of Johann Gottfried Herder is significant.

The first edition of Theory of Colours was released on 16 May 1810 in an edition of 500 on white and 250 pieces on gray paper in the Cotta publishing house.

For the history of science background

Even in ancient times the refraction of light was an issue, as their understanding of the proper positioning of stars in astronomy was important. As the founder of modern optics Johannes Kepler can apply with his writing Paralipomena ad Vitllionem of 1604. Even before 1600, there were various attempts to explain the origin of the colors of the rainbow by refraction - such as Roger Bacon and Dietrich of Freiberg. However, only with the law of refraction was possible for an exact formulation that has been properly formulated by Willibrord van Roijen Snell and René Descartes.

For explanation of vision and light existed until the 17th century, mainly three different models, which - depending on which phenomenon, it was explained, and although contradictory - always next to each other were used (such as for Descartes):

• Visual rays, which emits the eye, the objects are scanning around, similar to a cane or a modern radar. This view was widespread in the ancient world. It was disproved around 1000 AD by the Arab scholar Alhazen. However, the findings in the West found later through the mediation of Kepler and Witelos distribution. The derivation of the principles of perspective in the Renaissance took place partly on the model of lines of sight.
• Light ether as an infinite fluid medium and is necessary to explain the wave properties of light that show up in diffraction phenomenon, as in the principle of Huygens. The idea that constantly break away from the things of images and play in mind things were already present in ancient times.
• The corpuscular theory of light assumes that a lot of very fast particles emitted from a light source, comparable with cannonballs. Newton supplied with this model an explanation of the splitting of light in the prism, as in the Rainbow, by means of dispersion.

At Newton's time in the 17th and 18th centuries there was controversy as to whether light now owns corpuscular or wave- like character. The mystery of the supernumerary bows at Rainbow led Thomas Young in 1801 to carry out his famous double slit experiment. He pointed so that after the wave nature of light and could, in turn, in 1804 reveal the secret by the observation of interference phenomena.

Dated 1800 as the year of discovery of the infrared by William Herschel, which was shown to also observed by Goethe. 1802 was followed by the ultraviolet radiation by Johann Wilhelm Ritter, the Goethe personally met during this time. Has not been established whether Goethe and Knight talked about this discovery, even if it probably is. At least they probably led various optical experiments jointly.

According to his understanding of the " unity of nature " presented Goethe not only physical questions such as the nature of light, but also how it, especially the colors are perceived asked. The latter is not a purely physical issue. Goethe was not in contradiction to the physical science, because he went beyond the question, but because he held their answers wrong and replaced by their own wrong physical conclusions. The occasion was his gaze through a prism, from which he mistakenly expected the same results as Newton 's prism experiment. Because that was not the case, he concluded negligence "that the Newtonian theory is wrong. "

The prism experiment

Newton had a falling through a hole narrow beam of light passed through a prism, while the information contained in the white light colored lights - the colors of the spectrum - visualized separately.

Goethe himself gave a description of how he conducted his experiment on the dispersion of light through a prism:

" I just found myself in a completely whitewashed room; I expected when I took the prism before the eyes, mindful of the Newtonian theory, the whole white wall after different stages colored, fragmented to see the eye because of returning light in so many colored lights. But how surprised I was when the refracted through the prism Watched white wall remained white as before, that only where a Dark turn came, a more or less definite color showed that last the window bars appeared in color on allerlebhaftesten, however, on light gray sky could be seen outside no trace of color. It did not take long consideration, I realized that a limit is necessary to produce colors, and I said, as if by an instinct immediately to myself out loud that the Newtonian theory is wrong. "

His white wall was an extended light source. Every single light beam is dissected at Prism passage in a clump of colored rays. But each of these Single colored rays is superimposed by individual rays of all other colors are derived from the adjacent incident beams. In sum leave white rays the prism, except when entering any neighboring white rays. Then, missing more or less of the other sub-beams in the superposition and a colored impression. Goethe spectra develop where the entering neighboring rays were missing or were very faint, that is, for example, at the edges of the window bars. They formed a half gap and generated an edge spectrum. Newton made ​​his experiment consistently by using not only an entire gap, but even a hole and so held back the interfering adjacent beams all around. The fact that in his laboratory around the experimental set-up had to be dark, Goethe mocked for example, with the lines:

"Friends, flees the dark chamber, Where you've tricky the light .... "

Scientific reception

Even in old age Goethe said to Eckermann, Johann Peter: " To everything that I have done as a poet, I imagine even a nothing. [ ... ] That I in my Century in the difficult science of color theory 'm the only one but who knows what is right, I'll do it myself some benefit [ ... ]. "

Goethe's polemic against Newton and physics in general, given its physical errors contributed to the fact that during his lifetime failed him, the general scientific recognition of his work on the history of color theory and in particular on the psychological perception and evaluation of the colors by the people blieb.Der later Helmholtz defended Goethe's color theory, which "must be seen as an attempt to rescue the immediate truth of the sensuous impression against the attacks of science. " a modern discussion suggested Heisenberg in 1941 with his statement that the division of the world into an objective, through science explorable, and a subjective, our original experience of the world accessible reality from the viewpoint of modern physics is not tenable.

Preliminary work on color theory

Goethe's intense preoccupation with the subject of color began no later than 1777, when he perceived colored shadows in the evening sun on snow on the Brocken. Around 1790, he looked for a casual look through a prism edge spectra (see Prism Experiment ), which established scientific interpretation he opposed his own view about the nature of colored light under the title Contributions to chromaticism. She stands at the beginning of the 1810 and 1820 published enlarged font to color theory, but was already 1791/95 under the title Contributions to Optics published in advance.

A citation for his Harzreise ( 29 November-16 December 1777) opens up the emotional basis for the interest of Goethe to the colors.

"On a Journey in the Harz winter I came down in the evening from the Brocken, the wide open spaces up and down were covered with snow, the heath covered by snow, scattered all standing trees and projecting cliffs, also completely frosted every tree and rock masses, the sun was located just down against the Oder ponds. Goods through the day, have been noticeable in the yellowish tone of the snow, already softly purple shadows, so you had to appeal to high blue, as an increased yellow from the illuminated parts resist seemed now. But when the sun finally approached her decline and her by the stronger vapors most moderate beam covered the whole, surrounding me world with the most beautiful purple color, as the shadow color turned into a green that one after his clarity of a sea green, according to its beauty could be compared emerald green. The phenomenon became more and more lively, they believed in a fairy world to find, because everything had been dressed in the two vibrant and so beautiful matching colors until finally with the sunset splendor appearance in a gray twilight and gradually into a moon - and starlit night lost. "

Such observations can be found also on the trip to Italy. Here he occupied himself well during his trip to Italy ( 1786-88 ) of artistic interest with the color in the painting. He watercolor itself and studied the Italian landscape painting.

First scientific groundwork for future theory of color represent the contributions to the chromaticism, which initially appeared in 1791 and 1792 contributions in writing to the optics in the publishing of the industrial Comptoirs Weimar and then found their way into the design of a color theory.

In an attempt to discover the elements of color theory, a manuscript dating from 1794, Goethe elicited the " difficulty to explain himself and to unite what is meant by white understand [2, 90]. ... Newton says the white and all the gray colors between white and black can be composed of colors. " (2, 87) The problem of the origin of white provides for Goethe later is the key to understanding the colors and he performs a series of facts on.

" But we have to give to a remarkable circumstance eight. Once we mix together all the colors of the schema in a certain proportion, the result is a non-color of it ... which painted on white paper, we completely gives the concept of gray (2, 83) "... and thus contradicts Newton: " I may say boldly: experiments, of whatever kind they wanted to erdenke, so you will never be able to put together a white pigment made ​​of colored pigments, which do not appear gray or brownish in addition to or in a completely pure snow or powder. "

This dispute was based on the different assumptions of both. While Newton examined the additive color synthesis of light, Goethe dealt with the subtractive color synthesis of the colorants. The attachment of the colored shadows, a further preliminary work to color theory, probably dates from the year 1792.

As a methodological and programmatic preparatory work in the broader sense of the essay test as a mediator between subject and object can be considered, which was not available until 1823 in press. Although Goethe described himself as a poor mathematician, his approach does have the methodological rigor of mathematics.

Draft color theory

The main work on Goethe's color theory, the design of a color theory from 1810 Represents the plant basically consists of three main parts: a didactic, which presents its own findings, a polemic that opposes Newton's theory of colors, and a historic of the different historical theories of color and light recapitulated.

All the following quotations are from Ott, Proskauer, 1992 in this article in the form - given ( volume, page ). The book contains 15 partially colored panels that support the understanding of the text (2, 231-276 ).

I. Didactic part

Goethe first distinguishes three kinds of color and color effect.

Physiological colors are according to Goethe

" Noticed as volatile action and reaction of the eye itself "

He continues:

" These colors, which make the foundation of the whole teaching ... have been ... considered as deception or infirmity. "

First, note colors, optical illusions, face fraud and pathological colors (1, 64 ) will be discussed.

Physical colors understands Goethe

" As a temporary effect of colorless, translucent, transparent, opaque body of the light. "

He heads the department on physical colors as follows:

" Such things are thus generated colors in our eyes by such external special occasions. "

And introduced his concept of " the turbid " - as an infinite number of shades of gray on the black and white scale.

A variety of experiments is described with parchment paper, opal glass, concave and convex lenses, prisms - are to be put in reflected or transmitted light partially filled with water, black discs, various monochrome squares and also openings in the window shade as well as soap bubbles.

Body colors prevail after Goethe ago

" Where we need them as constantly as the bodies can confidently respond really indwelling. "

" The Yellow and Yellow Red is dedicated to the acids, the Blue and Blue Red alkalis. "

II against the Newtonian optics

Even the appearance of the work there was in contemporary art a contrarian dispute about the views of Goethe and Newton. Newton is the white light from the individual components, which are characterized by the spectral colors. But Newton also said: "The rays are not colored. " For Goethe's quest for unity of the world and the light is a unit colors as a property of light can thus only be the result of the mixture of brightness and Dark.

The basic question was: Is the light by Newton a composite phenomenon and different qualities lead to color or light is a "unit", as Goethe represented, and color is a phenomenon of different quality.

Goethe puts his own color theory color theory of Newton in Chapter unveiling Newton's theory against (3, 208/209 ):

III. Historical part

Goethe has intensively studied the learned world of his time tangible literature on the theory of color and some with comments. In addition, he has completed work great scientist ( Galileo, Kepler, Descartes ... ) by conducting research on the topic and sometimes even daring statements about human character of the individual scientist.

It was customary, when a work as fundamentally knew how to speak the views of the previous authorities - often in ancient times starting. Thus, the author pointed out the one as an expert of its territory and on the other hand enabled him to support his views by the authority recognized researcher.

René Descartes ' theory of light colors beads employed Goethe. A description of light as indivisible particle is also used in modern physics ( photon) in addition to the wave description, observable particle character but it is only since the end of the 19th century. Athanasius Kircher, Nicolas Malebranche and Robert Boyle's work will be discussed. Markus Marci's work over the rainbow convinced by Goethe

" Of the seriousness, diligence and perseverance of the author; [ but it was ] all over something sad about it. "

Hooke's work on Goethe Although the experimental, but not on the theoretical area helped (4, 251). The experimental evaluation in Johann Christoph storm color theory can not stand before Goethe.

Goethe discusses the writings on color theory of Thomas Sprat, Edme Mariotte, Voltaire, Tobias Mayer, Johann Heinrich Lambert, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestley, Jean -Paul Marat, Anton Raphael Mengs, Christian West Field and Robert Blair. Ultimately, even the defense of Newton's theory of colors by the physics professor John Theophilus Desaguliers (5, 356-362 ) and the Bernard le Bovier de eulogy Fontenelle (5, 386-392 ) discussed at Newton.

Additions to the theory of color. entoptic colors

This work dates from 1820. Goethe devises ingenious experimental arrangements and observed

" [ ... ] Through the most interesting Seebeckische Doppelspatprisma [ entoptic colors] in the dual-refraction of sunlight. These colors were entoptic called because they are to look within certain body. "

The simplest experiment to this double refraction, is said tersely, so be prepared

"You cut up a moderately strong mirror plate in multiple anderthalbzöllige squares, this durchglühe you and verkühle it quickly. What it does not shatter in this treatment, is now capable of producing entoptic colors. "

The whole experimental setup can be found on page (2, 217) outlined.

" Outer basic condition [ is ] pure, cloudless, blue atmosphere [ ... ]. At Midsummer, at noon is the brightest moment. At the culmination of the sun a white cross appears around the horizon. "

How we imagine this white cross?

" All witty, with natural phenomena reasonably well-known people as soon as they saw our entoptic cube between the mirrors, called each time the similarity with the Chladni figures, without thinking, lively from. "