Alois Höfler

Höfler’s solid should be seen as an expression of the relationship between coloured sight on the one hand and the psychological effect of colours on the other. Many psychological text books have, in fact, adopted his pyramids to provide information on our perception of colours. Two double pyramids, one with a black and one with a white tip are put forward, with bases formed respectively by a triangle and a square. These pyramids are intended to illustrate the visual and psychological relationship between colours. The double tetrahedron is based on the four primary colours used by E. Hering, and the corners of the triangular base in the octahedron are occupied by yellow, cyan and purple. (Detailed text)


Date: The Austrian philosopher and educationalist produced two similar colour-systems between 1883 and 1897.

Country of origin: Austria

Basic colours: Red, yellow, blue and green

Form: Double pyramid

Related systems: Hering

Bibliography: Höfler, «Psychologie», Vienna 1897; A. Höfler, «Grundlehren der Psychologie», Vienna 1908; F. Gerritsen, «Entwicklung der Farbenlehre», Göttingen 1984.