Most people are familiar with Newton’s theory of color which theorized that light was split up into its component colors when it passed through a prism.
However, Newton was dealing with light after it had passed through the matter of a crystal and what was visible on the other side. This means he looked at the colors as physical elements, but it does not answer the question of where those colors are born. This would require looking at the other side of the crystal or prism, on the side of light and shadow.
Rudolf Steiner, the science editor for the Kurschner edition of Goethe’s works, gave the following analogy:
“Modern natural science sees darkness as a complete nothingness. According to this view, the light which streams into a dark space has no resistance from the darkness to overcome. Goethe pictures to himself that light and darkness relate to each other like the north and south pole of a magnet. The darkness can weaken the light in its working power. Conversely, the light can limit the energy of the darkness. In both cases color arises.” – Rudolf Steiner
Goethe expresses it thus:
“Yellow is a light which has been dampened by darkness; Blue is a darkness weakened by light.”
Steiner developed Goethe’s theory, taking a step forward by dividing the 7 colors into two groups: 3 splendor or lustre colors, and 4 image colors. Splendor colors are yellow, blue, and red. Yellow arises when light, or bright white, first meets darkness. Blue arises when darkness, or black, first meets light. And red arises where the two meet.
Image colors are variations of the three splendor colors: yellow, blue, and red. While the splendor colors are three and are represented on the lemniscate, the image colors are represented on the 4, the form of manifestation. These image colors relate to the four kingdoms of nature. The first is black and relates to the mineral kingdom. The second is green, related to the etheric world and the vegetal kingdom. The third is peach blossom, related to the astral world and the animal kingdom. And the fourth is white, related to the spiritual world and the kingdom of man.
Beyond this, colors affect us on different levels of our being: at a physical level, soul level, and spiritual level. And the quality of color changes depending upon the source of the pigment, for example. A mineral pigment creates a different resonance in us than a pigment of vegetal or animal origin.
