Hues and cry

摘要

The influence on science and the arts of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - poet, playwright, novelist, proto-scientist, philosopher and general all-round egghead - is profound. His views about the physiological nature of colours, however, have never really caught on, in part because he proposed that colours are more an invention of the mind than a physical reality. One thing, however, rings true: the appearance of objects is not objective, but a conversation between the observer and observed.