Zur Farbenlehre

In 1810, Goethe published Zur Farbenlehre, a major work on color theory. In part one, he presents his theory, based in his own experiments; in part two, he attacks the first part of Sir Isaac Newton’s Opticks (1704); in part three, he surveys theories of color from the Greeks to his day and advances a psychology of color. His goals are to disprove Newton’s theory of light and color and to reject his method—one based exclusively on a physical, quantitative approach—in favor of a method based on perception of color by the eye. Exact date of this event is unknown; if you have information about the correct date, please email felluga@purdue.edu with this information. Image: Angelica Kauffman, Portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1787 (painting on canvas), Goethe-Nationalmuseum (Weimar). This image is in the public domain in the United States as its copyright has expired.