#interaction of color

[garadinervi]

Josef Albers, 1976 [David Zwirner, New York, NY. © 2026 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / ARS, New York]

↗ The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

[cosmonautroger]

Josef Albers, Interaction Of Color, 1963

[noosphe-re]

The purpose of most of our color studies is to prove that color is the most relative medium in art, that we almost never perceive what color is physically.

Josef Albers, Interaction of Color

[stone-cold-groove]

Interaction of Color | Joseph Albers - 1963.

[hellohaters]

Josef Albers / Interaction of Color, 1963

[speakspeak]

Interaction of Color — Josef Albers

Photo by Counter-Print on flickr ·  ·  · Explore Counter-Print's photos on Flickr. Counter-Print has uploaded 1770 photos to Flickr.

[lilymiller01]

“A Short History of Joseph Albers’ Interaction of Color” Response

One of the lines in this reading that really grabbed my attention was on page 16, when the author described how Albers differentiated between “ocular seeing” and “vision.” Albers described “ocular seeing” as simply the biological process of viewing something, and described “vision” as “a transformative process” when used in conjunction with imagination. The reason that this line stuck out to me was because I had never really thought of the 2 processes as being anything other than synonyms to each other, but the different definitions Albers presented really made me think of these processes in a new way. Another part of the story that grabbed my attention was on page 17, when it described how Albers began to move away from the traditional method of teaching in his color course, and instead encouraged students to define colors and hues in their own ways. I think that this is a really incredible way to teach something like this, because different colors have different meanings to different people. By allowing his students to make their own decisions about the psychological meanings behind colors, he’s making sure that each student truly grasps the material and understands the meanings behind each one.

[clarencewardartlibrary]

Color Theory: Chevreul & Albers

Some of Josef Albers’ color studies from Interaction of Color. [source]

The Clarence Ward Art library has a large color theory collection including many important primary works, including two of the best known texts in this field: M.E. Chevreul’s The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colours and Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color.

A professional chemist and director of dyeing at the royal Gobelin tapestry factory, Chevreul encountered problems matching woven colored yarn. Through careful analysis he determined the problems were not related to the quality of the yarn, the chemical composition of the dyes or the dyeing process, but by the difference in perception of color when it was isolated versus when it was being woven. Chevreul developed his law of “Simultaneous Contrast” based on careful observation of the effects of juxtaposing colors: two colors placed side by side will appear to change in hue, tonal value, and saturation; their dissimilar qualities will be intensified and similar qualities muted.

Chevreul’s findings were revolutionary for the field of art, textiles, gardening, etc. They are also the entire basis for Josef Albers’ Interaction of Color, which contains visual examples based on the principles detailed by Chevreul.

In the book’s introduction, Albers says,

The book Interaction of Color presents, besides an explanatory text, 81 folders with more than 200 sample studies showing a new way of teaching color, of studying color.

Below are some examples of his studies along with Alber’s commentary:

“This bright study [above] is more or less self-explanatory. 3 unconnected vertical bars of different deep colors are crossed by 3 separate horizontal bars of 1 and the same light color.  Within their crossings appear 9 illusionary mixtures. The 3 lower ones are dominated by the same light color and therefore appear on top of the darker verticals. The 3 upper mixtures are dominated by the 3 different deep colors which therefore appear on top of the light color. In the middle horizontal bar, all colors meet on 1 and the same level.

Over 4 tints a shadow is cast, through transformation into a lower key.  By reversing the left study, a light is cast, as in a transformation study into a higher key. If the lightening up appears the same for all shades, it proves that the solution at left is correct.

These studies are not copies in the usual understanding of replicas… They purposely neglect many details and may even appear in changed keys of light and temperature. They are consciously condensed records of a personal notation of a painting’s color instrumentation, or, in usual terms, of its palette and color relatedness.

Source: Albers, Josef. Interaction of Color. Yale University Press, 1963.