Colour

"Colour gives the world its meaning, and this defines also the Man.”

- Goethe (1749-1842)

The visible world is constructed of colour, as so are we. Colour is a language that conveys a particular impression, emotion, and symbolic meaning.

Most people think of colour subjectively and see it only as impressional, i.e. simply a matter of taste or preference - “I like pink, I never wear yellow”...

Yet, colour is much more significant. It is a force, a radiant energy that causes an emotional and physiological response, whether we are conscious of it or not.

It is also symbolic. The colour is the expression of all things. It reflects the elements of the living thing, whether it’s the deadly contrasts of a venomous snake or the cooling shades of the sea. As Rudolf Steiner said, “Colour is the soul element of nature”.

You, also a living being, are a colour phenomenon, and your individual colour signature tells others about your elements and attributes.

There has been much hypothesised about the nature of colour and colour theory, from Aristotle the philosopher, to Newton the scientist, to Goethe the writer, to Chevreul the chemist, to Itten the professor at the Bauhaus School of Art, to Steiner the spiritualist. Yet, one thing remains clear, that We are forces of nature, and colour is one of the main principles of nature, besides form.

Colour is a form of expression rather than solely a cultural symbol. The nuances of our colour aesthetic are subtle yet distinct, and paramount to understanding the individual self. One could say that your body acts as the prism reflecting your inner nature through colour and light. You have certain key hues from the primary or secondary colour palette that reveal your shades of light, and a temperature that emboldens you with certain tendencies and attitudes. You have a particular value - a luminosity or depth that reveals aspects of your personality, your introversion and extroversion.

All these aspects of your colour signature are examined in the Colour Consult or the Image Profiling Consultation.

Key Colourists

‣Johannes Itten (1888-1967), a Swiss Professor at the Bauhaus School of Art in Germany in the early 1920’s, developed comprehensive colour theory including the 12 point ‘Colour Sphere’.
‣Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832), a Writer and Philosopher questioned Newton’s ideas on colour theory, and the influence of colour in nature
‣Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Educator and Esoterist, studied the writings of Goethe and contemplated the esoteric ideas behind colour
‣Faber Birren (1900-1988), an Art Historian developed the ‘rational colour circle’ and pioneering colour theory in printing. He considers green one of the primary colours.
‣Michel Eugene Chevreul (1786-1889), Dye Director at Gobelins Manufactory in Paris. Developed the laws of colour contrast after noticing how the colour yarns could impact the colour of surrounding yarns.
‣Isaac Newton (1643-1727), a Scientist, proposed the idea of refraction - light through a prism decomposes into the spectrum of colours

Itten’s Colour Sphere

”Colours express the main psychic functions of man.”

- C G Jung (1875-1961)

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