by The full text of the academic lecture of Master Jalil Ziapour at the University of Tehran; the year 1995
Johannes Itten’s Color Wheel
Today, a vast portion of researchers’ investigation time is devoted to the effect of the color of nature on humans. However, during this time, over long years, most researchers had directed their gaze only toward the nature of human inner contents. Recently, they realized that the human relationship, in addition to internal reserves, must also be considered in relation to external reserves and compared. Natural phenomena such as the occurrence of earthquakes, volcanoes, storms, and floods have been experiences that have made human beings acquainted with their environment. Natural coloring, too, has been an important and inseparable factor from humans, which, like air for breathing, has always surrounded humanity.
“Colin Ronan” (Colin Ronan) in the discussion of the origins of science, in his book “The History of Science in the World,” has stated: “The lamp of knowledge flickered for the first time nearly ten thousand years ago in the Middle East.” “Jung” (Jung) (psychologist) in the discussion of “Man and His Symbols” points out: “that the human mind and psyche hold many signs and archetypes in memory, and through them, have been able to assert themselves.”
The discovery of red colors dating back six thousand years showed that humans of that era, in addition to covering their bodies with color, decorated the walls of their houses with the color red. Since that time (perhaps even earlier), the color red, along with the deceased, was needed in the world of spirits to exert its necessary influence. Among the Hindus, it was customary to bring a black cow along in the funeral ceremony as a sign and concept of the worldly death of the deceased.
“Philippa Waring” (Philippa Waring) in her book “Dictionary of Superstitions” has written: “Some people always perceive the color blue as the carrier of good fortune and the color white as ‘sacred and celestial’.” She has also said: “Most people do not show interest in the color black.” When the people of China wear white clothing in mourning ceremonies, it indicates that the soul of the deceased is being escorted to the realm of purity. The tradition of wearing black in mourning ceremonies is not merely a sign of respect for the deceased, but rather, in an ancient custom, represents the acknowledgment of human weakness in the face of mortality.
Since the investigation of researchers into the effects of light and color on life as a whole yielded the conclusion that human behavior and conduct are generally not separate from the influence of natural light and color, serious action was taken regarding the effects of color therapy (following traditional activities). Anthropologist “Hays” (H.R. Hays) says: “In the myth of the “Tuscarora” (Northern Europe), two legendary black-skinned and white-skinned brothers are an interpretation of night and day. The dark blue color of the black-skinned brother suggests night, and the bright yellow of the white-skinned brother suggests day. In this way, night and day, with their two color backgrounds from nature, have become factors of psychological effect. In addition to the two established colors of night and day in the mind, the two colors red (or scarlet – volcanoes and the blood of prey) and the green of nature (grasses and forests) also had a fundamental effect on the psyche of early humans.”
“Ruskin” (Ruskin), in defining the psychological and physical effect of color in human life, says: “Color in life is associated with the human body, and with light in the sky, and in the soil, with the purity connected to human beings; and in this susceptibility, all individuals who possess a structured mentality and normal temperament enjoy normal and balanced color.” [Of course, this explanation means that the inner abnormality of any person causes them to accept and employ an undesirable and unpleasant color].
In any case, the four colors—blue, yellow, red, and green—with their derivatives have always brought about tranquility, effort, power and excitement, defense, and “willpower”; these influences have been of particular importance from the era of early humans until today. In these endeavors, the people of the Middle East, in order to ensure physical and spiritual health, paid attention to a series of light, color, sound, and dietary fluctuations that cause the necessary stimulations for health, and they also realized that the abnormality of colors and sounds unbalances the body’s internal regulating system, and they recognized some colors that cause sensitivity (allergy), as well as those colors that bestow tranquility, and the color violet, which is the color of cosmic awareness.
“Lobsang Rampa” (Lobsang Rampa) introduces the color blue as the manifestation of the ethereal world and mentality. The German philosopher “Schelling” (Schelling) symbolically interprets dark blue as the heavy calm of a turbulent sea, and considers those inclined toward this color to have a calm temperament with emotional content. The color green (according to the ancient treatises of Indian physicians) regulates the existing disharmony between different ethereal bodies and reduces blood pressure. (In Iran, to bring down a patient’s fever, in traditional medicine, they would lay the feverish patient among the “green” leaves of the willow tree). The color orange, in Indian Ayurvedic interpretations, heals the body’s metabolism. They treated the patient with sun therapy (with the help of the orange light of the sun).
Persistence in this kind of treatment further aroused the curiosity of scientists specializing in research and investigation, so much so that today, study on the effects of color therapy has become an important part of research. Countless researchers who have investigated psychic functions have arrived at many clarified issues in the fields of utilizing colors (on all human traits: “violence, depression, joy, spirituality, holiness, up to the more complex and precise concepts of the inner self”). It is obvious that to feel or understand these complex and precise concepts, we have an urgent need for a broad knowledge of the world of color. Therefore, I must say: the artist painter (and our people who inherently possess artistic taste) must understand and know the effects of colors on the basis of the psychology of colors and not through the recognition of shapes.
Today we know that every individual has a colorful aura within their being. The overall composition of each individual’s aura is dependent on their actions, temperament, general culture, and diet. These colors, which manifest from the entire aura of each individual in a “colored” form, are capable of interpretation, explanation, meaning, susceptibility, impact, inspiration, and suggestion. Therefore, color is the primary means of identifying human identity and personality.
“Rousseau,” in terms of the effect of color on the human psyche, has cited an event as an example and says: “In London, they had painted a bridge named “Friar’s” black; this bridge had become the means of many suicides. They painted the bridge green. The number of suicides on this bridge was reduced to one-third.”
The experiments of “Ehrenwald” (Ehrenwald) and “Goldstein” (Goldstein) have clarified: “that colored lights in a warm color background caused the movement of the arm and knee toward the light, while blue and green lights, which are in a cold color background, caused the opposite movement of the limbs.”
“Lüscher” (Lüscher), based on his investigations, believes that: “Color is considered one of the criteria of personality, and this view has been proven from a psychological perspective.” “Lüscher” has also realized this point: “that the less the presence of colors in a painting, the greater their suggestiveness for understanding the concepts of color.”
In clinical trials of colors and their psychological analysis in modern psychoanalysis, views have been presented that, on one hand, relate to the distant past, and on the other hand, based on scientific experiments, their practicality has been confirmed. “Jung,” in dream analysis, interpreted the color red in emotional problems as a symbol of emotion and passion, and considered the color blue to represent a sterile intellectual world. He interpreted white clothing as representing delicate emotion and interpreted the color black as being far from enlightenment.
Today, in some modern hospitals, having realized the effect of colors on improving the mental and physical state of patients, they have found color therapy to be very effective. Scientists such as Cadioli, Babbitt, MacNaughton, Jules Regnault, Rothman, and others who have strived in this direction have achieved positive results. As an example, I present a few positive results of clinical color therapy:
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The color red: In clinical trials, with a slight mixture of orange, it has raised blood pressure.
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The color orange: In Dr. MacNaughton’s experiments, it was energizing and relieved fatigue. It increased optimism, had an antispasmodic effect, calmed respiration, and balanced hyperthyroidism.
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The color yellow: In Dr. MacNaughton’s clinical trials, it manifested as joy. An important effect that MacNaughton has pointed out is the presence and effect of the color yellow in blood purification. He considers the gradual loss of the color yellow among humans by any means to mean the loss of hope.
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The color dark blue – indigo: In the experiments conducted by MacNaughton, he concluded that this color produced the necessary oxygen to neutralize excess hydrogen and carbon.
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The color gray: In “Lüscher’s” experiment, the color gray is devoid of any kind of psychological movement. It is neither objective nor subjective, neither internal nor external. It is neither anxiety-producing nor calming. Gray lacks a chromatic domain.
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The color green: In “Lüscher’s” experiment, when there is also a vein of blue in it, it generates self-awareness and will. Resolute and resistant determination, rootedness and immutability, the imposition of one’s personal view while remaining flexible, pride, and forbearance are among the attributes of green (but using this color over a long period causes changes in the body’s metabolism).
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The color red: In “Lüscher’s” experiment, it accelerated the pulse, raised blood pressure and vital force, and created eagerness, competition, creativity, and willpower.
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The color yellow: In “Lüscher’s” experiment, it had the effect of fleeting and suggestive cheerfulness.
In conclusion, I direct attention to “Itten” (Itten). Regarding our coloring (we Iranians), he has said: “One of the characteristics of the coloring of Iranians in the Islamic period is the use of colors in the tiles of buildings, especially mosques, by which, through appropriate coloring, they have removed the harshness of building materials and have created such a combination that the distribution of blue-turquoise and lapis colors beside white, yellow, brown, and olive green finds an eye-pleasing harmony and takes on a symbol with an attractive psychological effect.”
I add: [that our coloring (especially in mosques) is such that objectivities have been transformed into an integrated suggestive subjectivity, and backgrounds of turquoise, lapis lazuli, and heavy navy blue tile colors explain the depth of the pulse of life, while ruby and cinnabar colors offer the effervescence of intellectual life; and the colors, each in its own way, gain force, and the magnificent patterns of each tile, with the splendor of tiny-footed colors that each in some manner settle upon the soul, present them in their totality as more magnificent; and the wholeness and collective splendor, like an immense and encompassing harmony, raise the pulse of life and, more majestically and more meaningfully, give thought elevation and ascent].
