J. Frans Gerritsen

All colours are arranged according to the laws of colour perception—hue, brightness and saturation, therefore—in a diagramatic perceptual colour-space. Six chromatic colours, yellow, red, magenta, blue, cyan and green, lie along a wave line on the cylinder wall and lead to black below and white above. This idea about the phylogenetic (evolutionary development of organisms) emergence of colour sensitivity can be traced back to the physicist Erwin Schrödinger who, in 1924, had already reflected «on the origin of sensitivity curves within the eye» in order to achieve a better understanding of the psychology of colour order. A few thoughts about the present-day genetic explanations of colour-blindness follow. (Detailed text)


Date: The diagram, constructed according to the laws of colour perception, appeared in 1975.

Country of origin: Holland

Basic colours: Six «full colours»: yellow, red, magenta, blue, cyan and green.

Form: Modified cylinder

Related systems: NewtonColoroidMaxwell

Bibliography: F. Gerritsen, «Entwicklung der Farbenlehre», Göttingen 1984.