The Hue of Angles — Was Kandinsky Right?

Abstract

This article presents an experimental study on the natural association between angles and colour. Specifically, for each angle width -formed by two segments joined at their vertex -studied, participants were asked to indicate the colour that they perceived as most closely related to it, choosing from the NCS Hue Circle. The results show that participants systematically established a natural and consistent association between certain angles and colours, when explicitly asked to choose the colour that they perceived as most naturally related to a given angle presented as two lines. The overall results suggest an association between acute angles and warm colours and obtuse angles and cool colours, confirming Kandinsky's hypothesis. In particular, the strongest relations were found between the angle of 22.5°and yellows, the angles of 45°, 90°and 135°and green-yellows, and the angle of 157.5°and red-blues, when angles were presented on a white background.

Spatial Elements in Visual Awareness. Challenges for an Intrinsic “Geometry” of the Visible

“…Experimental data show that circles are associated with red, triangles with yellow, acute angles with the range of red-yellow, and obtuse angles with the range of blue-green [Albertazzi, Da Pos et al 2012]. This holds also for biological shapes, in which the pattern "round" and "elongated" appear to be matched respectively by reddish colors and bluish colors [Albertazzi, Malfatti et al 2015]. These collections of data raise the issue of a "geometry" of the purely visible, i.e., of the formal representation and modeling of what a subject perceives in actual seeing, where s/he is directly presented with appearances, not with physical objects.…”

Cross-modal associations between materic painting and classical Spanish music

“…The questionnaire reported this information. The subjects were also asked about a possible conscious synesthesia (Palmer and Schloss, 2010 ; Albertazzi et al, 2013 , 2015 ; Palmer et al, 2013 ). The only exclusion criterion was self-reported defective color vision or acoustic impairment.…”

“…This position obviously does not preclude investigation of correlations at neuronal level or of the presence of cognitive dimensions due to learning, language, symbolization, etc. This interpretation has been adopted in studies on the associations between color and shape in the general population (Dadam et al, 2012 ; Albertazzi et al, 2013 , 2014 , 2015 ).…”

“…As is well known, cross-modal and cross-dimensional associations have always played a role in aesthetics. Recently, the association between color and shape has been experimentally tested by studies relating to Kandinsky's hypothesis of a systematic association between geometrical shapes and colors (Droste, 1990 ; Lupton and Miller, 1991 ; Jacobsen, 2002 ; Kharkhurin, 2012 ; Albertazzi et al, 2013 , 2015 ; Makin and Wuerger, 2013 ; Chen et al, 2015 ). Besides the above-mentioned shape/color association in Kandinsky, the analogy between scales of colors and scales of notes is a major component of the harmony theories developed by Klee ( 1956 ), Kandinsky ( 1926/1994 ), and Itten (Itten et al, 1970 ; Gage, 1999 ) with particular regard to Schönberg (Schönberg and Kandinsky, 1980 ; Bidaine, 2004 ).…”

“…Besides the above-mentioned shape/color association in Kandinsky, the analogy between scales of colors and scales of notes is a major component of the harmony theories developed by Klee ( 1956 ), Kandinsky ( 1926/1994 ), and Itten (Itten et al, 1970 ; Gage, 1999 ) with particular regard to Schönberg (Schönberg and Kandinsky, 1980 ; Bidaine, 2004 ). In our study, and following previous studies of ours dealing with aesthetics (Albertazzi et al, 2013 , 2015 ), we tested the association in the general population between some artistic works in painting and some pieces of classical music, in order to evaluate whether systematic cross-modal associations occur among stimuli of high complexity. Specifically, we tested whether images with varying perceptual characteristics and contents led to consistent associations with the music clips, and what attributes might be responsible for the phenomenon.…”