the color wheel is intuitively WRONG

According to the Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) through their “Web Exhibits” project, people have “color senses in their sight like they have taste senses (Douma).” They go onto say that in our perception of color we identify two pairs of colors which are red and green and then blue and yellow, where we never see both at the same time(Douma). The pairing of the two then appear to be a completely different color where the base colors are not separately identified. This is relevant to the activity of making a color wheel because can can compare the placement of the red and green combination as well as the blue and yellow combination.

Blue and yellow are both Primary Colors that are not exactly opposite but are not analogous colors, meaning that they do not share colors. As soon as they are put together the product becomes a step of green. On the color wheel we can see the steps that are between yellow and blue, especially the pure green that is the midpoint of yellow and blue. Even though the closest to yellow might be described as “yellow-green” it’s mainly considered green and not identified with blue.

Red and Green are respectively a primary color and a secondary color. On the color wheel we can see that they are opposites, or complimentary colors to each other. Even though they hold different ranks they are like yellow and blue because they are not analogous. Red and green make a brown color when they are put together, and that is what sets them apart from blue and yellow. Red and green make brown which is not on the color wheel, yellow and blue make green which is on the color wheel, so why do our eyes identify these instead of the pairs that are both consistently opposite? Why do we not see orange instead of yellow? According to Ewald Hering, a physiologist, we perceive the sense of color like we perceive other senses by identifying opposites. These opposites are like identifying hot and cold or sweet and bitter (Douma). We perceive those colors as separately unrelated and almost opposite because our senses relate them that way. The color wheel may be scientifically correct to show opposites, but our senses “see” things different.



Citation:
Douma, Michael, curator. “What is Color?” Color Vision & Art. 2007. WebExhibits. Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement, Washington, DC. February 12, 2008.