The Munsell Color Tree

Colors everywhere, but who can count them all?!

Janice Ahn & Elaine YauCS99D – Winter 99/00

Marc Levoy

Historical Problems with Identifying Colors

• Theoretical Problems– Numerous color concepts– Different theorists organize properties of

color into different functional systems• Leonardo da Vinci (15th Century)• Newton – discovered spectrum and devised color

circle • J.C. Le Blon – observed primary nature of red,

yellow, blue and described hues from mixing (1756)• Moses Harris – published first color circle in full

color (1766)

Different Color Wheels

• Color wheel 1

Historical Problems with Identifying Colors

• Practical Problems– Individual color

vocabulary• Breadth• Definitions/

associations

– Trade names and commercial naming

• Behr Paints

Various Color Classifications

Munsell Solves Color Problems!

• Albert H. Munsell– Seascape painter of the 1890s– Munsell System of Color Notation

(1905)– One of the color standards used by

the US National Bureau of Standards– Used in science, industry, and art

• Soil samples

What is the Munsell Color Tree?

• 3D Spherical Model• Incorporates

concepts of hue, value, and chroma in one model

• Organized in a numerical classification system

• Inclusive of all colors – each color has its own place

How does it work?

• Based on the 2D Color Wheel– Includes primary,

secondary colors, i.e. hues– Can be expanded to

include intermediary hues

• Shows all variations of colors/hues, which are at full intensity on the wheel

• Notation: 5.0 + letter5.0 R = red5.0 BG = blue

green

How does it work?• Value Scale

– The lightness/darkness of a particular hue

– Related to brightness, luminosity– Vertical arrangement: the “trunk”

of the color tree

• Nine levels of values– 1 = black– 9 = white– Notation: 5.0 R 5/ ; 5.0 BG 7/

• Values of hues are compared with this neutral gray pole

How does it work?

• Chroma– Refers to

strength/weakness of a hue at a certain value

– Related to purity, saturation, intensity

– Horizontal arrangement: the branches of the tree

• Fourteen levels of chromas– 1 = dullest, most gray

variation of the hue– 14 = most intense,

pure state of the hue– Notation: 5.0 R 5/6;

5.0 BG 7/8 (even numbers)

– 5.0 R 5/12 is redder than 5.0 R 5/10

Value and Chroma

To sum up…• Hue – purest form of a color

– 5.0 R; 10.0 YRY– Leaves of the tree

To sum up…• Hue – purest form of a color

– 5.0 R; 10.0 YRY– Leaves of the tree

• Value – placement along the gray scale– vertical axis (trunk)– 5.0 R 5/

To sum up…• Hue – purest form of a color

– 5.0 R; 10.0 YRY– Leaves of the tree

• Value – placement along the gray scale– vertical axis (trunk)– 5.0 R 5/

• Chroma – intensity of a hue– horizontal axis (branches)– 5.0 R 5/14 (most intense red)

To sum up…• Hue – purest form of a color

– 5.0 R; 10.0 YRY– Leaves of the tree

• Value – placement along the gray scale– vertical axis (trunk)– 5.0 R 5/

• Chroma – intensity of a hue– horizontal axis (branches)– 5.0 R 5/14 (most intense red) Each hue has

it’s own page on the tree

• Each hue chart also has different # of chips depending on the chroma possibilities of each hue at value levels

Making our Munsell Color Tree

Obstacles

• Sorting through vast pool of color chips ~1500 at Home Depot (we got lost getting there, too)

• Taunts from the Home Depot Staff• Eyestrain and bodily fatigue from

constant visual comparisons and matching, and fluorescent lighting

• Limited spectrum of Behr color palette – Resulted in several empty slots

Making our Munsell Color Tree

Choices• Construction/Display of our Color Tree

– Wanted: 3-dimensional, rotating pages, upright

• Black background to emphasize color contrasts

• Shortened chroma range on each page– Eliminated 1 – gray tone– Eliminated 14 – most hues do not reach

this intensity, only red

Color in Art

Mark Rothko (1956) Orange and Yellow

Rothko (1954)

Red, Orange, Tan, and Purple

Henri Matisse (1943-44)

Icarus (Jazz)

Summer (1890)

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Josef Albers (1966)

White Line Square XIII

Piet Mondrian (1922)

Composition with Blue, Yellow, Black, and Red

Marc Chagall (1913)

Paris Through My Window

The End

If we have time…

And since we have time…

BibliographyBirren, Faber. Principles of Color. NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1969.

Color Matters. http://www.colormatters.com. March 2000.

Color Theory. http://www.busybrushes.com/Classroom/colorelem.html.

March 2000. 

Leland, Nita. Exploring Color. OH: North Light Publishers, 1985.

 Parramon, Jose M. The Book of Color. NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1993.

 Sidelinger, Stephen J. Color Manual. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1985.

 National Gallery of Art. http://www.nga.gov/home.htm. March, 2000.

 Artcyclopedia. www.artcyclopedia.com. March, 2000.