Assignment 5

Throughout design history artists have experimented with colours and how we perceive them, changing our views and thoughts on the subject. Through this experimentation they also developed the theory of ‘colour vision’, which focuses on how we see and interpret colour.

            Many artists were main contributors to how we understand colour in society today, but so were scientists. “Painterly attention to the nuance and changes of colour-effects in nature and art…. were… later recognized and codified by optical science” (Gage, J. (1993)) shows how artists attention to detail created scientific possibilities. It also brought up aspects of colour that were unnoticed until then and with the help of science they could be understood. The paintings within impressionism are of a style that gave great depth into how we understand colour. These artists painting in simple lines and blots show that our minds receive information about colour and make sense of it to create a feeling or experience.  Georges Seurat was one of the artists who shows how a scene and atmosphere can be created in an impressionistic manner with ‘View of Fort Samson’ (Seurat, Georges. (1885)), shown here. This painting and others like it were quintessential in creating our understanding in colour because they show how we relate colour to certain aspects of life. It also shows how colours can be combined to create something we understand in the form of art. This displays how artists played their part. Their contribution matched with the scientific discoveries, made by Newton and others, helped mould our understanding of colour and our perceptions.

            ‘Colour vision’ is how we use the light reflected from an object to understand its spatial properties and material. Although artists experiment with the use of colour vision, because it is to do with how we perceive colour, I believe scientists are the reason we understand it. Through their experiences we learnt that it was not a case of our sight radiating wavelengths that are then reflected back, but light reflecting off the object.

            Artists have changed and influenced our understanding of colour and this is a big part of how we perceive colour today, but I believe that we owe more to scientists. It was, after all, Newton who experimented with light and its refraction, generating the colour wheel. We can have no doubt that artist do amazing things with colour and that they change our perception, but scientist are undoubtedly the ones to thank for our understanding.

Gage, J. (1993). Colours of the Mind in Colour and Culture: Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction (pp.192). New York: Thames and Hudson.

Seurat, Georges. (1885) View of Fort Samson [Painting]. From Hermitage Museum. Retrieved from http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=441