Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors, Part 2

Picture below - Johannes Itten’s 12-point star, with white at the center. The colors are defined by tone and saturation.

In the early 20th Century, the German painter, teacher and art theoretician Johannes Itten, expanded Harris’ theories and that of Phillip Otto Runge.

Runge had attempted a three-dimensional model of color using a sphere.

The pure hues were the equator; the central axis was a grey scale from black at the bottom to white at the top.

The colors were graded from black to the pure hue to white in seven steps. Theoretically, the intermediate mixtures were inside the sphere.

Itten adapted these theories and expanded them by opening up the sphere to form a 12-point star, showing white as the centre. This star included 12 colors (hues) – 3 primary, 3 secondary and 6 tertiary. He defines these by tone (light or dark) and saturation (depth of color).