Goethe's Theory of Colours
Translated from the German, with Notes

Goethe's work on light and colour, translated in 1840 by Sir Charles Eastlake, later keeper of the National Gallery.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Author), Charles Lock Eastlake (Translated by)

9781108075442, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 October 2014

482 pages, 1 b/w illus. 3 colour illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.7 cm, 0.61 kg

This work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) was translated into English in 1840 by Sir Charles Eastlake (1793–1865), painter and later keeper of the National Gallery. Goethe's 1810 work was rejected by many contemporary scientists because it appeared to contradict the physical laws laid down by Newton. However, its focus on the human perception of the colour spectrum, as opposed to the observable optical phenomenon, was attractive to, and influential upon, artists and philosophers. As Eastlake says in his preface, the work's dismissal on scientific grounds had caused 'a well-arranged mass of observations and experiments, many of which are important and interesting', to be overlooked. Eastlake also puts Goethe's work into its aesthetic and scientific context and describes its original reception. His clear translation of Goethe's observations and experiments on colour and light will appeal to anyone interested in our responses to art.

Translator's preface
Preface to the first edition of 1810
Introduction
1. Physiological colours
2. Physical colours
3. Chemical colours
4. General characteristics
5. Relation to other pursuits
6. Effect of colour with reference to moral associations
Concluding observations
Notes.

Subject Areas: The arts: general issues [AB]