Step into the vibrant, often overlooked, world of 19th-century color theory! While Sir Isaac Newton's physics dominated the scientific view of color, a fascinating counter-movement was brewing in Germany. This episode explores the groundbreaking, yet initially forgotten, ideas of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and artist Philipp Otto Runge, alongside their complex relationship with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's monumental 'Color Theory'.
Forget the idea of color just being about light waves; Schopenhauer posited that color is fundamentally a physiological phenomenon, a qualitative division of the activity happening within your own retina. He delved into how our vision works, arguing that our understanding and subjective experience are key to perceiving the world and its colors, a perspective rooted in the philosophical shifts brought about by Kant. Schopenhauer's theory offered a radical departure, challenging conventional wisdom by explaining phenomena like the physiological color spectrum (afterimages) and even demonstrating how white could be produced from opposite colors – a point of significant departure from Goethe and a direct challenge to Newtonian ideas.
Parallel to this, artist Philipp Otto Runge was developing his own unique approach, culminating in the creation of the Color Sphere. This wasn't just abstract theory; Runge aimed to provide a practical tool for painters, organising all colors and their mixtures into a three-dimensional model, integrating chromatic colors with the achromatic scale of white, grey, and black. For Runge, color even held divine origins, a medium to express the profound relationship between humanity, nature, and the universe. He also explored the fascinating distinction between opaque and transparent colors, recognising qualities that science struggled to quantify.
Neither Schopenhauer's nor Runge's color theories gained widespread traction in their time. Schopenhauer, a philosopher of a small following, saw his work on color largely forgotten by scientists and the public alike. Runge's untimely death and the limited edition of his 'Color Sphere' meant his ideas also faded from view. However, a century later, these forgotten theories found new life and unexpected influence. Schopenhauer's focus on the subjective nature of perception and color resonated deeply with the Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld, becoming a lifelong interest that visibly shaped his pioneering furniture and architecture, like the famous Red-Blue chair and the Rietveld-Schröder House, through the separation and delineation of elements with primary colors. Simultaneously, Runge's Color Sphere was rediscovered and incorporated into the foundational color courses at the Bauhaus by influential teachers like Johannes Itten and Paul Klee, impacting Klee's thinking on color organization and mixing techniques, including his concept of the Canon of Color Totality.
Join us as we uncover these intricate connections, exploring how philosophical insights into vision and artistic quests for universal order led to powerful, subjective interpretations of color that left a tangible mark on the history of modern art and architecture. It's a story that proves the most profound ideas can sometimes take the longest to find their audience.