Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe's Theory of Colours Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We naturally place these colours first, because they belong altogether, or in a great degree, to the subject-to the eye itself. They are the foundation of the whole doctrine, and open to our view the chromatic harmony on which so much difference of opinion has existed. They have been hitherto looked upon as extrinsic and casual, as illusion and infirmity: their appearances have been known from ancient date; but, as they were too evanescent to be arrested, they were banished into the region of phantoms, and under this idea have been very variously described. Thus they are called colores adventicii by Boyle; imaginarii and phantastici by Rizetti; by Buffon, couleurs accidentelles; by Scherfer, scheinfarben (apparent colours); ocular illusions and deceptions of sight by many; by Hamberger, vitia fugitiva; by Darwin, ocular spectra.