Sources

Image credits

The diagrams were made for this site, except the historic plates and drawings, which are public domain. The paintings are public domain or openly licensed; each entry links to the file's record with its source and license.

Philipp Otto Runge, color sphere plate, Farben-Kugel (Hamburg: Friedrich Perthes, 1810)
File: Scan leaf n24, cropped to the plate
Public domain · Author/source field: Philipp Otto Runge

Isaac Newton, Opticks (London, 1704), Book I, Part II, Plate III, detail with Fig. 11 (color circle)
File: Scan leaf n188, detail
Public domain · Author/source field: Isaac Newton

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Zur Farbenlehre, atlas, Plate I (Tübingen: Cotta, 1810), detail
File: Scan leaf n28, detail of upper half
Public domain · Author/source field: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

M. E. Chevreul, Plate V: Premier cercle chromatique renfermant les couleurs franches, in Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux arts industriels (Paris: J.-B. Baillière et fils, 1864); engraved by René Henri Digeon
File: Large JPG, cropped to the plate
Public domain · Author/source field: Michel-Eugène Chevreul

Albert H. Munsell, A Balanced Color Sphere, frontispiece of A Color Notation (Boston, 1905)
File: File:Munsell color sphere.png
Public domain · Author/source field: Albert H. Munsell

Diagram: daylight, a red surface and the light that reaches the eye
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate I, Fig. 1, solar spectrum (rotated upright and cropped)
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n9.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate I, Figs. 2–5, spectra of gamboge, Prussian blue, the pigments mixed and their colors mixed (rotated upright and cropped)
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n9.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Diagram: sensitivity of the three cone types (Stockman & Sharpe data)
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Diagram: one surface under three lights, with and without adaptation
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade (1894)
File: NGA Open Access image, 1963.10.49
CC0 · Author/source field: Claude Monet

Diagram: two samples that match in daylight but not under a warm lamp
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

George Field, Chromatography; or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments (1835): Plate I, Fig. 2, Chromatic Equivalents, and Fig. 3, Definitive or Fundamental Scale of Colours (detail)
File: https://archive.org/download/gri_c00033125008687523/page/n5.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: George Field

Wilhelm Ostwald, Die Farbenfibel, 6th ed. (1921): p. 33, Die Farbzeichen, tone triangle of one yellow (detail)
File: https://digital.sciencehistory.org/downloads/deriv/7p88ch85v/download_full
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm Ostwald

Albert H. Munsell, Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915): Chart C, Chromatic Branches of the Color Tree
File: https://archive.org/download/AtlasMunsellcol00Muns/page/n12.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Albert H. Munsell

Albert H. Munsell, Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915): Chart V, Axis of the Color Tree
File: https://archive.org/download/AtlasMunsellcol00Muns/page/n10.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Albert H. Munsell

James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1861–1863, 1872
File: https://api.nga.gov/iiif/4133ddae-6de0-4e9f-8ded-a43b2ac6c8c1/full/1200,/0/default.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: National Gallery of Art, Washington

George Field, Chromatography; or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments (1835): Plate I, Fig. 2, Chromatic Equivalents (detail)
File: https://archive.org/download/gri_c00033125008687523/page/n5.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: George Field

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839
File: The_Fighting_Temeraire,_JMW_Turner,_National_Gallery.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: J. M. W. Turner; photograph via Wikimedia Commons (The National Gallery, London)

Diagram: complementary pairs mixed toward neutral, and five earth pigments
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Camille Corot, Ville-d'Avray, 1870
File: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DP-19283-001.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Diagram: seven kinds of color contrast as swatch pairs
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Diagram: one blue at eight values, and a river scene made from them
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Silver—Battersea Reach, 1870–75
File: https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=FS-F1902.97a-b_002
CC0 · Author/source field: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution

Diagram: five neighboring hues on the painter's color wheel
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Claude Monet, Water Lilies (Agapanthus), c. 1915–26
File: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.81/1960.81_print.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: The Cleveland Museum of Art

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate IV, Figs. 1–6, pairs
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n328.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, 1888
File: https://images.collections.yale.edu/iiif/2/yuag:3b072179-2fc7-42bc-87cc-9ee4d782b270/full/full/0/default.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Yale University Art Gallery

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate IV, Figs. 7–10, triads
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n328.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, c. 1660
File: https://iiif.micr.io/QkOGy/full/max/0/default.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Albert H. Munsell, Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915): Chart C, Chromatic Branches of the Color Tree, detail of the yellow, red and purple branches
File: https://archive.org/download/AtlasMunsellcol00Muns/page/n12.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Albert H. Munsell

Francisco de Goya, Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, 1787–88
File: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DP287624.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Diagram: complement pairs sized by area ratios (after Itten and Schopenhauer)
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Camille Corot, River with a Distant Tower, 1865
File: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DP-14936-055.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Georges Seurat, Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque) (1887–88)
File: DP375450_cropped.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: Georges Seurat

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate III a, b and c, red disks on purple and yellow grounds and on a neutral ground (shown side by side)
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n322.jpg, n324.jpg, n326.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Diagram: stare-and-look afterimage test
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate V, Fig. 3, red ornament on blue
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n330.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Wilhelm von Bezold, The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry, trans. S. R. Koehler (1876): Plate V, Figs. 5 and 6, red ornament with black and white
File: https://archive.org/download/theoryofcolorin00bezo/page/n330.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Wilhelm von Bezold

Diagram: equal-value edges that vibrate or vanish
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Diagram: flat colors that read as transparent overlap
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne (1520–23)
File: File:Titian Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Titian

Diagram: where common pigments come from
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Diagram: a four-color palette, its mixtures, and a full palette
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Anders Zorn, Frieda Schiff (1876–1958), Later Mrs. Felix M. Warburg (1894)
File: DP160821.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: Anders Zorn

Diagram: how binder, grinding and light change a pigment's color
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Vincent van Gogh, Irises (1890)
File: File:Vincent van Gogh - Irises (1890).jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: Vincent van Gogh

Diagram: glazing compared with direct opaque mixing
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Cosimo Tura, A Muse (Calliope?) (probably 1455–60)
File: File:Studiolo di belfiore, calliope di cosmè tura, national gallery di londra.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Cosimo Tura

Paul Gauguin, Mahana no atua (Day of the God), 1894
File: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/a4bef587-48a4-d186-813d-f297441b1ab3/full/1686,/0/default.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: Paul Gauguin; image: The Art Institute of Chicago

Diagram: ridges growing lighter and bluer with distance; red and blue squares on black
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Claude Lorrain, Sunrise, possibly 1646–47
File: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DP-14936-013.jpg
CC0 · Author/source field: Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée); image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Diagram: one sky, hill and tree in local, sunset-lit and invented colors
File: Original diagram
Original work · Author/source field: David Nicholson Art

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, Die Temperamentenrose (drawing, 1798–99). Klassik Stiftung Weimar
File: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Goethe_Schiller_Die_Temperamentenrose.jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
File: https://ms01.nasjonalmuseet.no/iip/?iiif=/tif/NG.M.00939.tif/full/1200,/0/default.jpg
Work: public domain (no known copyright restrictions). Photo: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) · Author/source field: Edvard Munch; photo: Børre Høstland, Nasjonalmuseet

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Farbenkreis zur Symbolisierung des menschlichen Geistes- und Seelenlebens (watercolor, 1809), inv. III-14047
File: https://assets.museum-digital.org/hessen/images/1/202204/96949/farbenkreis-zur-symbolisierung-des-menschlichen-geistes-und-seelenlebens-96949.jpg
Public domain (Public Domain Mark) · Author/source field: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sassoferrato, The Virgin in Prayer, 1640–50
File: SASSOFERRATO - Virgen rezando (National Gallery, Londres, 1640-50).jpg
Public domain · Author/source field: Sassoferrato (Giovanni Battista Salvi); photograph of the painting in the Nation