Sources
Sources and further reading
This course was compiled for general readers from the lectures, courses, museum records and references below. The wording is new; quotations are credited where they appear.
Lectures
Faruqee, Anoka. “Color in Context: Revisiting Albers.” Yale University, October 12, 2013. YouTube. Link
Roy, Ashok, and Caroline Campbell. “Curators in Conversation: Making Colour.” National Gallery, London, 2014. YouTube. Link
Hanson, Andrew. “The Physics and Psychology of Colour.” The Royal Institution, London, filmed March 19, 2018. YouTube. Link
Cooperman, Marcie. “Color Theory for Artists, Designers, and Visual Thinkers.” Fairfield University Art Museum, March 26, 2024. YouTube. Link
Curricula that shaped the course
Raritan Valley Community College. “ARTS-132 Color Theory.” Course outline, effective Fall 2024. Link
Napa Valley College. “ARTS 105 Color Theory.” Course outline of record, effective Fall 2025. Link
Gury, Al. “Color for Painters.” Course syllabus. Studio Incamminati, Philadelphia, 2024. Link
Zelanski, Paul, and Mary Pat Fisher. Color. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. Table of contents. Link
Washtenaw Community College. “ART 102 Color.” Master syllabus, 2018. Link
Lee, Timothy. “Introduction to Color Theory.” MIT Arts Studios, Summer 2025. Link
Museum collection records
National Gallery of Art. Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, 1894. Accession 1963.10.49. Collection record, with visual description and audio tour transcript. Link
National Gallery of Art. Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight, 1894. Accession 1963.10.179. Collection record. Link
National Gallery of Art, Washington. “James McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1861–1863, 1872.” Collection record 1943.6.2. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
National Gallery, London. “Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839.” Collection record NG524. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Camille Corot, Ville-d'Avray, 1870.” Collection record 87.15.141. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution. “James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Silver—Battersea Reach, 1870–1875.” Collection record F1902.97a-b. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Cleveland Museum of Art. “Claude Monet, Water Lilies (Agapanthus), c. 1915–26.” Collection record 1960.81. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Yale University Art Gallery. “Vincent van Gogh, Le café de nuit (The Night Café), 1888.” Collection record 1961.18.34. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Rijksmuseum. “Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, c. 1660.” Collection record SK-A-2344. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792), 1787–88.” Collection record 49.7.41. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Camille Corot, River with a Distant Tower, 1865.” Collection record 11.45.4. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. “Georges Seurat, Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque), 1887–88.” Collection record, with technical notes by Charlotte Hale and Silvia A. Centeno. Link
The National Gallery, London. “Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520–3.” Collection record (NG35). Link
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. “Anders Zorn, Frieda Schiff (1876–1958), Later Mrs. Felix M. Warburg, 1894.” Collection record. Link
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. “Vincent van Gogh, Irises, 1890.” Collection record. Link
The National Gallery, London. “Cosimo Tura, A Muse (Calliope?), probably 1455–60.” Collection record (NG3070). Link
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée), Sunrise, possibly 1646–47.” Object 47.12. Catalogue entry by Mary Sprinson de Jesús, 2011. Link
Art Institute of Chicago. “Paul Gauguin, Mahana no atua (Day of the God), 1894.” 1926.198. Link
Nasjonalmuseet. “Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.” NG.M.00939. Catalogue text by Vibeke Waallann Hansen, from Edvard Munch in the National Museum (Oslo: National Museum, 2022). Link
National Gallery, London. “Sassoferrato, The Virgin in Prayer, 1640–50.” NG200. Link
Munch Museum. The Scream, 1895, hand-coloured lithograph, MM.G.00193-03. Oslo: Munch Museum. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Reference sources
Munsell, Albert H. “Color-Sphere and Mount.” US Patent 640,792, granted January 9, 1900. Google Patents. Link
Indivero, Victoria M. “A Colorful Life.” Distillations, Science History Institute, November 3, 2009. Link
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. “Itten, Johannes.” Artist biography. Link
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. “Albers, Josef.” Artist biography. Link
Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Philipp Otto Runge.” Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
NASA Science. “Visible Light.” Link
Gouras, Peter. “Color Vision.” In Webvision: The Organization of the Retina and Visual System. University of Utah. Link
Colour & Vision Research Laboratory. Stockman & Sharpe (2000) 2-degree cone fundamentals and CIE 1931 color-matching functions. University College London. Link
WebExhibits. “Color Mixing.” Causes of Color. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Pokorny, Joel, Vivianne C. Smith, and Margaret Lutze. “Aging of the Human Lens.” Applied Optics 26, no. 8 (1987): 1437–40. Link
Minneapolis Institute of Art and Walker Art Center. “Color Wheel.” The Artist's Toolkit: Visual Elements and Principles. ArtsConnectEd. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1998, 238–244. Link
National Gallery, London. “Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.” Artist biography. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
WebExhibits. “Umber” and “Yellow Ochre.” Pigments through the Ages. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Dupree, Catherine. “The Neurobiology of Art.” Harvard Magazine, July–August 2003. On Margaret Livingstone, Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing. Link
Corney, David, John-Dylan Haynes, Geraint Rees, and R. Beau Lotto. “The Brightness of Colour.” PLoS ONE 4, no. 3 (2009): e5091. Link
Manasse, A., and M. Mellini. “Iron (Hydr)oxide Nanocrystals in Raw and Burnt Sienna Pigments.” European Journal of Mineralogy 18, no. 6 (2006): 845–53. Link
ColourLex. “Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid.” Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Di Tommaso, Agapito, Vincenzo Garro, Anna Maria Gueli, Sabina Martusciello, and Stefania Pasquale. “Colour Quantity Contrast in Itten’s Theory: Spectrophotometry for Verifying Statements.” Cultura e Scienza del Colore / Color Culture and Science 8 (2017): 23–34. Link
Itten, Johannes. The Art of Color: The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color. Translated by Ernst van Haagen. New York: Reinhold, 1961. Ideas summarized in new words; no text or plates reproduced.
WebExhibits. “Causes of Color: Luminance Differences Affect Our Perceptions.” Link
Albers, Josef. Interaction of Color. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963. Ideas summarized in new words; no plates or text reproduced.
Jansson, Emma. Zorn’s Studio: The Artist’s Materials and Techniques. Mora: Zornmuseet, 2023. Link
ColourLex. “Azurite.” Link
ASTM International. D4302-14(2021), “Standard Specification for Artists’ Oil, Resin-Oil, and Alkyd Paints.” Link
Michalski, Stefan. “Agent of Deterioration: Light, Ultraviolet and Infrared.” Canadian Conservation Institute. Link
Britannica Editors. “Aerial Perspective.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Link
Kitaoka, Akiyoshi. “Chromostereopsis.” In Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology, edited by M. Ronnier Luo. New York: Springer, 2015. Link
Hatch, Evie. “A History of the Colour Blue in Art.” National Gallery, London. Link
Monico, Letizia, et al. “Probing the Chemistry of CdS Paints in The Scream by In Situ Noninvasive Spectroscopies and Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Techniques.” Science Advances 6, no. 20 (2020): eaay3514. Summary: University of Antwerp, AXIS research group, “The Chemistry of The Scream (1910?).” Link
Cowley, Les. “Blue Haze.” Atmospheric Optics. Accessed October 28, 2026. Link
Public-domain texts
Newton, Isaac. Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. London: Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, 1704. Internet Archive (Smithsonian Libraries). Link
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Zur Farbenlehre. Atlas volume. Tübingen: J. G. Cotta, 1810. Internet Archive (Getty Research Institute). Link
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Goethe's Theory of Colours. Translated by Charles Lock Eastlake. London: John Murray, 1840. Internet Archive. Link
Chevreul, M. E. De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs. Paris: Pitois-Levrault, 1839. Internet Archive. Link
Chevreul, M. E. The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colours. Translated by Charles Martel. 2nd ed. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855. Internet Archive. Link
Chevreul, M. E. “Plate V: Premier cercle chromatique renfermant les couleurs franches.” In Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux arts industriels à l'aide des cercles chromatiques. Paris: J.-B. Baillière et fils, 1864. Science History Institute Digital Collections. Link
Munsell, A. H. A Color Notation. 2nd ed. Boston: Geo. H. Ellis, 1907. First published 1905. Project Gutenberg. Link
Runge, Philipp Otto. Farben-Kugel. Hamburg: Friedrich Perthes, 1810. Internet Archive (Getty Research Institute). Link
Rood, Ogden N. Modern Chromatics, with Applications to Art and Industry. International Scientific Series 26. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1879. Link
Bezold, Wilhelm von. The Theory of Color in Its Relation to Art and Art-Industry. Translated by S. R. Koehler. Boston: L. Prang and Co., 1876. Link
Field, George. Chromatography; or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments, and of Their Powers in Painting. London: Charles Tilt, 1835. Internet Archive (Getty Research Institute). Link
Munsell, A. H. Atlas of the Munsell Color System. Malden, MA: Wadsworth, Howland and Co., 1915. Internet Archive (Smithsonian Libraries). Link
Ostwald, Wilhelm. Die Farbenfibel. 6th ed. Leipzig: Unesma, 1921. Science History Institute Digital Collections. Link