Chapter 5. Color Theory and Basic Shapes

Color Theory and Basic Shapes

Contra-Composition with dissonances XVI, Theo van Doesburg, 1925. Oil on canvas. 100 × 180 cm. The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

Color has always been present in our natural environment and in art across the world. From the 30,000-year-old Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc cave drawings in southeastern France, where the creators used carbon black and ochre pigments to represent Paleolithic horses, to the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 1954, which was the first national television broadcast in color, color has been a focus of artistic creation.

Artists, mathematicians, and scientists have developed theories of ...

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