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What do you know about Colour Theory?
Firstly, I know all about colour theory. In fact, it is a rather fascinating subject. Colour theory concerns the perception of colours and the physiological response to different wavelengths of light.
When we see colours, our eyes are actually detecting photons. The retina in the back of the eye contains light-sensitive cells called rods and cones. Rods detect brightness (black and white) while cones detect colour.
Within each eye is a series of cones, which work together to detect different wavelengths of light. There are three types of cone: red, green and blue. When these three kinds of cones react to photons falling on them (for example from a flower), we see the colour orange.
The reason why we can see the colour orange is because red, green and blue light are in fact complementary colours. When mixed together they produce all of the other colours.
The concept of complementary colours was first brought to light by Sir Isaac Newton. He concluded that if you combine red and green, you get yellow; blue and orange give us violet; and finally red and violet produce a shade of purple.
However, there is another theory of colour, one that was first proposed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He believed that colours were not actually complementary but rather complements.