If you enjoyed this article you may find my online courses helpful in developing your understanding of visual language, perspective and different drawing techniques. In 2013 Yale developed an interactive iPad app to mark the 50th anniversary, which further fulfils Alber’s intent of the book being accessible and an on going enquiry. Since then it’s been printed numerous times worldwide. These works, along with his writings, are considered invaluable contributions to color theory. The Interaction of Colour was originally published in 1963, after 30 years of extensive teaching. Interaction of Color (public library) is an essential piece of visual literacy, exploring such fascinating subjects and phenomena as color recollection and visual memory, the relativity of color, transparence and space-illusion, temperature and humidity in color, and the afterimage effect. Josef Albers was an American-German artist best known for his iconic color square paintings, also know as his Homage to the Square series. The color illusion assignments that Albers gave us have become icons of the art school experience: make one color look like two make two colors look alike make opaque colors appear transparent The goal of all the color illusion experiments was, and is, to make us hyperaware of 'the relativity of color. Like colour, his teachings assert that everything is relative, and this notion can be carried through into life. The thought provoking exercises and mind-bending optical illusions were not only about colour, but about perception itself and how we experience the world around us. At the time of it’s publication The Interaction of Colour was seen as a groundbreaking text exploring art, psychology and science. A contemporary audience may already be aware of the interchangeability of colour, for instance you may of experienced the magic of Op-Art, a movement influenced by Alber’s work.

Albers color theory