Customer Reviews

The Art of Color: The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color

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What fascinates me so much about Itten's classic book is its deeply philosophical, even quasi-religious approach to color. Itten was as much interested in the spirituality of color as in developing a theory of color.

Another great aspect of the book is the numerous master paintings beautifully reproduced and intertwined with his own theories and color diagrams. You get paintings by Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, El Greco, Seurat, and so many others. Itten is always contrasting the objective and the subjective aspects of art and color, and it makes for a fascinating reading experience.

Itten has a mature perspective on these painters and their relation to color. Its only flaw is that Itten's is only one perspective. I wish there were more authors who could write and analyze art at this level, and who weren't afraid to be spiritual in their assessments.

With so many dramatic advancements in technology, we tend to forget very quickly where we were. Just a decade or so ago, this book was literally too difficult and too expensive to produce. We are lucky to live in an age in which a book of such profound beauty is even available. Overall, it's a must for any fine library.

This book of Johannes Itten is a good example of the use of colour in the antroposofic way. He connects the different colours with moods and feelings, religious symbols and even gives it a spiritual dimension. For me it was an eye-opener on the aspect of harmony. Itten emphasizes that the eye and mind are always looking for balance, harmony in the sense of a grey-tone. If a work of art does not reflect this kind of harmony, for instance because of a distonality in the use of colours, the eye and mind get restless and agitated. But if used on purpose this aspect of colour gives a work of art a very strong impact and makes it a masterpiece.[...].

Anyone interested in the color theory and its applicance on art should seriously consider this book. Everything explained is illustrated by high quality examples and samples from different artists' work; definitely made me happy.

I'd studied physiology and neuroscience, later switching careers from a medical path to that of a designer. I've dived into many sources for my self-education/training. Itten is the grand-master of color; no other book I've read compares to those of Itten. His teachings have enlightened me in ways that I'm amazed by, touching on scientific, psychological, behavioral, and the most personal aspects of color as a study and an experience. It's changed the way I look at my environment, and it's changing the way I use color in my work as a designer.

I'm so impressed with the value this book has had to me, that I bought Itten's book on Form and Design, even though I didn't necessarily feel lacking on those aspects of design. It's rather because of the likelihood in the quality and richenss of knowledge I'll gain, as I did from this book.

As an artist who uses color in my work, this book has been invaluable. The color wheel has always been my primary reference for color combinations; however, since reading Johannes Itten book, an entirely new world of understanding and enlightenment has evolved. I love this book for how it has enriched my knowledge and passion for color.

The Art of Color describes seven innate contrasts in color, giving special significance to Simultaneous Contrast. Further, Itten describes the psychological effects of color, the analogous shapes to each color, drops the names of several color theorists which can be used for a jumping off point for further study, provides several exercises for the reader, and gives eye-opening analyses of a wide variety of paintings, from Rembrandt to Seurat to van Gogh to Mondrian.

The text is not perfect, and suffers from deficiencies stemming from the fact that color was not as well understood when Itten was developing these theories. The primary colors are described as red, yellow, blue, instead of the red, green, blue (and complements cyan, magenta, yellow) that we know today.

Another deficiency is a striking lack of several color effects described in other contemporary texts on color theory, such as the Bezold effect, vibrating colors, and the Weber-Fechner law.

Still, this text is not to be missed. It is probably the most comprehensive text on color that is not written from a purely technical standpoint.

A little expensive, but well laid out and designed. On quality paper. Thoroughly recommended.

Johannes Itten's book about colour is a classic - not to be missed by anyone seriously interested in colour. It's not only brimming with technical information about colour - it also has a very sensitive, almost poetic edge. The language is beautiful, and so are the many colour reproductions in the book. I do not recommend it warmly, but - hotly!


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Opened my eyes to new ideas (to me) in color. VERY helpful in helping me to choose more wisely which colors to use when constructing my own paintings, and how slight variations in colors will affect the whole artwork dramatically. Informative and interesting.

This book might be expensive, but what do you expect for such genius. I love this book, and would recommend it to anyone into color theroy. Itten is a color genius, and this book proves it.