In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton created the first color circle, a simple yet elegant representation of the relationship between colors. This led to the concept of primary colors and their compliments represented by the triadic color chart. A typical color wheel of this type is composed of three primaries: red, yellow, and blue. Mixing these colors in various combinations results in the addition to the wheel of three tertiary colors: purple, orange, green.
To the artist, the color wheel is an indispensable tool. She refers to the wheel again and again as she composes her painting. It is an enabling technology, because the wheel is used as an aid in what would otherwise be a difficult process, switching between the two requisite modes of thought-intuition and analysis. The color wheel helps her to hold in mind those abstract concepts attributed to human color perception. She would have chosen a color scheme and a dominate color for her painting and the wheel quickly shows the given structure of that color scheme, the dominate color's compliment and its analogous colors. Before she dips down to maneuver intuition's strange landscape, the color wheel is propped up next to her painting, so that when she surfaces again with a question about color relationship, it is right there before her. She captures the needed information quickly and descends again before too much of the dream dissipates.
For instance, if you are working on a painting which has a dominate color of reddish violet and you need to know its compliment, the color wheel shows that it is yellowish green. You can then turn quickly back to the area in your painting and apply the compliment.
To Albert Munsell however, the triadic color chart was inadequate in his attempts to understand the relationships of colors, especially in nature. Albert Munsell was an art teacher, inventor, and a painter. In 1898, he created the Munsell color sphere. As the artists of the day emerged from their dark studios and took to the countryside, in what was later called the Impressionist movement, Albert Munsell developed a color wheel that better reflected how we perceive color relationships in nature.
Whereas the triadic color chart begins with three primary and three secondary colors, Munsell started with five primaries: yellow, red, violet, blue, and green. He represented his color chart as a sphere, but it can also be very useful (and more convenient) to artists when it is flattened into two dimensions.
The placement of each color's compliment is more accurate than the traditional wheel. As you apply the principles of mixing colors by mixing compliments, hues are created which more closely approximate what is actually out there in nature. Also, many neutral and earthy colors have fair representation here, on the actual color chart. As painters, we know how critical neutrals are to the composition of a painting. Neutrals created by using Munsell's theory are purer, more natural and vibrant.
From a painter's perspective, one thing the Munsell wheel allows you to do is create your own neutrals, instead of buying them from a manufacturer. Yellow ochre is one such neutral. It is a common neutral that you will find on the shelves of art stores. So you squeeze it out on your palette and set to work on your painting. You soon discover that you need to modify that yellow ochre slightly in order to harmonize with other colors on the canvas. Let's say you need to darken it by applying its compliment. What compliment? Unfortunately, you don't know precisely what colors went into it, so you will have to guess. And guessing, you risk mixing a dull muddy color.
However, if you mix your own yellow ochre, you can further utilize the Munsell wheel to modify it, because you know exactly what went into it. Create yellow ochre by mixing yellow-green and reddish orange, then refer to the Munsell wheel to find its compliment, blue with a bit of violet.
The traditional color wheel is an effective tool and should not be discarded, but we now know that there are alternatives, and depending on the application, the alternative could be a better solution.
-Jon
