fascinating and intimidating topic.

So, here is a catalog of my essential books on color: the science,

history, theory, and practice of it. Some of these are new, and others are books I come back to again and
again. Whether you’re a devoted color-lover or a recovering chromophobe, I guarantee there’s a book in
here to help you see color more deeply, appreciate its wonder, and feel more confident using it in your
daily life.

LIVING WITH COLOR

Rebecca Atwood

There are so many great books about color theory and history, but very few that show you how to use
color in your life. My friend Rebecca Atwood is a designer whose textile and wallpaper designs are the
stuff dreams are made of. Her first book on pattern earned a permanent spot on my desk before I’d ever
met her, so I was so excited when she told me she was working on a book about color. This just-released
book walks you through a process for getting in touch with your own color preferences and helping you
build a palette that will make anything from your home to your wardrobe feel joyfully your own. This is
not one of those books of stunning, unachievable interiors. It’s beautiful alright, but packed with
accessible inspiration that will show you exactly how to get started, even if your most adventurous color
decision to date has been pairing oatmeal with ecru. Get it here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

INTERACTION OF COLOR

Josef Albers

A classic by one of the masters of color theory that reveals the ways in which colors morph and shift
depending on how they are arranged. Albers shows how one yellow can look drastically different when
placed on a blue vs. a brown background. On the flip side, he shows how two different blues can be
made to seem almost identical if placed on contrasting grounds. I find this book so indispensable I
actually have two copies, the result of a day when I couldn’t find it and immediately went out and
bought another. A must-have.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

COLOR: A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PALETTE

Victoria Finlay
If you’ve ever wondered where the ultramarine in your watercolor set comes from or how your favorite
pink sweater got its hue, then this is the book for you. Finlay takes us around the world as she chases
down the sources of the world’s oldest, rarest, and most elusive pigments, from the ochres used by
Australian Aboriginal peoples for 40,000 years to purest yellow sourced from the urine of cows in rural
India, to the heated race to find the source of the Spanish government’s fiercely guarded secret red hue.
(That last one is the cochineal beetle, still used to create the red pigment in lipstick even today!).
Available here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

AN ATLAS OF RARE & FAMILIAR COLOUR

The Harvard Art Museum’s Forbes Pigment Collection

This is a relatively new addition to my collection, a souvenir from a recent field trip up to the Forbes
Pigment Collection at Harvard, a working library that houses more than 2500 colors, many with
surprising origin stories (don’t miss the shade of brown that comes from ground up Egyptian
mummies!). This is a perfect pictorial companion to Finlay’s Color, (and in fact she wrote the forward),
illustrating many of the pigments she describes. Just looking at the antique vials of colored powders
sparks a feeling of amazement at the insatiable human appetite for rich and vibrant hues. Get it here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

THE SECRET LIVES OF COLOR

Kassia St. Clair

If colors were people, then St. Clair would be their biographer. This book is broken into overall sections
based on groupings of hues (greens, blues, pinks, whites, etc.) and then further divided into brief
profiles of very specific shades, from shocking pink to puce, verdigris to dragon’s blood, whitewash to
madder. Peppered with historical intrigue, cultural curiosities, etymologies, and other tidbits, I find this a
fun book to dip into for greater context around our colorful world. Available here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

COLOR PROBLEMS: A PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR THE LAY STUDENT

Emily Noyes Vanderpoel

This recently reissued book, complete with a thick set of gorgeous, full-color plates, suggests approaches
to creating harmonious arrangements of color in applications ranging from interiors to fashion to floral
arranging. Vanderpoel was ahead of her time in a number of ways, from her observation on the
restorative power of nature’s greens to her way of representing color relationships in simple grids that
anticipated the work of modernists color theorists like Albers and Itten by decades. When you are stuck
on a color problem, Vanderpoel’s principles for color harmonies and detailed color studies are a gift.
Find it here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

COLOUR: WHY THE WORLD ISN’T GREY

Hazel Rossotti

This is my go-to book about the physics of color. This book explains why true blue is so rare in nature,
why iridescent colors shimmer, and why fluorescent pigments are so bright. (Answer: they actually
absorb energy from a part of the spectrum that is invisible to us, making them seem to reflect more light
than is shining on them. Whoa!) It’s no longer in print, but you can get a secondhand copy on Abebooks
or Amazon.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

CHROMOPHOBIA

David Batchelor

If this term caught your attention in ch 1 of Joyful (Energy), this slim book of philosophy and art history
can give you a more thorough account of how the fear of color took root in Western society.
Chromophilic artist Batchelor shows how color has been equated with childishness, femininity, primitive
culture, exoticism, and superficiality, and therefore marginalized. I found this book a great help in
understanding why our surroundings often lack color, and why many of us feel a need to hold ourselves
back from expressing our love of color in our clothes and environments. Read an excerpt here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.
COLOR ME BEAUTIFUL

Carole Jackson

Are you a spring or a winter? A cool summer or a deep autumn? I’m not sure this system is as
bulletproof as Jackson makes it seem, and it has rightly been criticized for its limited (read: mostly white)
palette of skin tones, which has been somewhat addressed in revised editions. Nevertheless, I’ve found
it useful to know that there’s a set of colors that are more likely to make me look healthy and vibrant,
and others that typically wash me out. After all, the first aesthetic of joy is energy, and if a color makes
you look grey and sickly, it’s not very energizing. This system makes shopping a million times easier. If
it’s something I’m going to wear next to my face, I rarely look at colors that are out of my “season”
anymore. While I sometimes wish that I could wear a tangerine orange dress or a bright yellow sweater,
most days I’m just relieved to know that I can walk into a store and eliminate three-quarters of what’s
on the rack and just focus on what I know is going to look good. Take a quiz to see what season you are
here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

WERNER’S NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS

Patrick Syme

This lovely turquoise (or is it Verditter blue?) bound book was once the standard used by scientists,
naturalists, and artists to describe the colors they were seeing in nature. In fact, it was the book that
Charles Darwin used to describe the colors he saw on his travels on the Beagle. Well before the Pantone
system and the invention of the camera, there needed to be some way for scientists to talk about the
colors of minerals, clouds, and feathers. Pigments often faded between the time that drawings or
paintings were made and later viewed; words were more precise. There is some grousing online about
the color swatches not being true to their originals. But I bought this book for the descriptions of the
different hues. As a writer, the beautiful names and poetic descriptions make this book a keeper. Peek
inside here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

THE COLOR COLLECTOR’S HANDBOOK

Leah Martha Rosenberg

Rosenberg is an artist and one of the cofounders of Color Factory, a participatory pop-up museum about
every shade of the rainbow. This book is like a color journal, a way to tune your eye to notice the
surprising places that different colors appear. Especially fun with kids, this book is a welcome companion
for your next Color Hunt. Learn more here.

12 essential, must-read books about color. Check out Ingrid Fetell Lee's picks for books about color
theory, history, and science, as well as practical guides to using color in design.

COLOR AND HUMAN RESPONSE

Faber Birren

Note: I recommend this book for historical interest, not for scientific study. Birren provides an intriguing
summary of a variety of attempts to study color’s effects on human wellbeing. While a few of its general
conclusions have since been supported (such as those about light therapy), the book is also littered with
pseudoscience. There’s no hard evidence that green glasses can reduce tremors, for example, nor that
brown rooms reduce our IQ. Because of the wild claims and flimsy evidence, this book is better viewed
as a travelogue of humankind’s attempts to understand the purpose of color, as opposed to a real
resource for the study of color psychology. The highlights of this book are descriptions of historical
curiosities like Cecil Stokes’s Auroratone films, psychedelic compositions of light and music that were
reputed to delight depressed patients. A fascination with color seems to be timeless, after all.

Do you have any favorites that I missed? I’d love to hear about them!

Get a free Joyspotter's Guide to help you notice and savor more joy every day!

FIRST NAME

EMAIL

You'll also receive periodic updates on new things from The Aesthetics of Joy. We respect your privacy.
Unsubscribe at any time.

SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2019

SEE MORE

BOOKS,COLOR,ENERGY,JOYFUL LIBRARY,READING LIST,RESOURCES

SHARE:
GIVE YOUR LIFE A JOY MAKEOVER!

This exclusive program includes interviews with 11 experts to help you transform every part of your life
for joy.

DISCUSSION (16 COMMENTS)

Kimberley Bell on September 18, 2019

Oh Ingrid two of my favorite things – books and color. I love this list. Thank you!

Reply

Ingrid Fetell Lee on September 18, 2019

Wonderful! Mine too 🙂

Reply

Karen j on September 18, 2019

I was a 4th grade teacher. Two books I adored and used with my students were:

Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill and

Color by Ruth Heller

Reply

Nicola Holden on September 19, 2019

This is a great list of books – thank you for sharing! Can I also recommend Karen Haller’s The Little Book
of Colour which has just been launched here in the UK! All about the psychology of colour.

Reply

georgia Coleridge on September 19, 2019

Thank you Ingrid, as always, for so generously sharing.

I also love The Anatomy of Colour by Patrick Baty, a history of paints and pigments from 1660- 1960.

It is a huge book with 1100 pictures, 1000 of them in glorious colour!

love Georgia x

(PS I am also quite proud of my own book The Chakra Project, which explores the seven rainbow
colours. My friend Amber Locke -@ambaliving photographed the most wonderful rainbow veg for it.
Looking out for colour is utterly joyful.)

Reply

Robin w. on September 19, 2019

Love this list – – have half these books and will run out and order the other half!!!

If you are interested in personal color theory, run do not walk to go see John Kitchener, based in Atlanta
(but sometimes in SF). There are loads of ‘system’s out there that categorize people into updated
versions of that rather dated seasonal system of Color Me Beautiful – – but John evaluates each person
individually for a unique and nuanced palette that doesn’t shove a person into a category. Comes from a
well-trained art background, has done like 20,000 + people. There is just no one who does what he does.
(I’m not paid to promote, just a huge fan! I work with color in the architectural design field and much of
my understanding as it applies there comes from what I learned in this different context from taking my
whole family to John – – )

https://www.pscjohnkitchener.com/

Reply

Gina on September 19, 2019

Great list Ingrid! I would add In Color by Tory Burch.

Reply

Ingrid Fetell Lee on October 11, 2019

Great suggestion! Thanks, Gina.

Reply
Elizabeth DOwey on September 22, 2019

Colors of the World,

A Geography of Color

by Jean-Philippe Lenclos & Dominique Lenclos

“a chromatic journey through the colors of vernacular architecture from the United States to the far
corners of the globe”

(whoever came up with this idea?? to travel the world looking at color!!) fabulous book, loads of photos
and more.

Reply

Elizabeth DOwey on September 23, 2019

Can’t resist adding this link to this entire Medieval book of color.

Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau

[Treatise of colors used in water color paint ]

Auteur Boogert, A. (16..-17?)

Pécoul, Auguste (1837-1916) [ancien possesseur]

Date 1692

https://bibliotheque-numerique.citedulivre-aix.com/records/item/35315-redirection

Reply

Jennie Traill Schaeffer on September 23, 2019

Oooh, Finlay’s book is a real gem. Stumbled upon it many years ago and have been sharing anecdotes
about color anthropology with my students. I’ve always been intrigued by color theory, Albers, and
more, but have never taken a formal class – just tidbits picked up through art school, experimentation
and seeing. Can’t wait to explore this list deeper. Thank you!

Reply

Ingrid Fetell Lee on October 4, 2019

I agree – I loved Finlay’s book so much too! You know, even in a color theory class, it’s all
experimentation and seeing anyway. So you’ve had the perfect color education in my book!

Reply

Lou Prosperi on September 24, 2019

One of the things I loved about JOYFUL was that it helped me understand why I love the Disney parks so
much – they are FULL of the aesthetics of joy.

This post and list reminded me of a book about Imagineering and the Disney parks that includes a
chapter called “The Art of Color”.

The book is called DESIGNING DISNEY: Imagineering and the Art of the Show. You can find it on Amazon
here:

https://smile.amazon.com/Designing-Disney-Walt-Imagineering-Book/dp/1423119150

Reply

Ingrid Fetell Lee on October 11, 2019

Lou! I totally agree. Disney is full of the aesthetics of joy. I wanted to write more about it in JOYFUL but
didn’t have enough space to fit it in. Thanks for sharing this resource. Looks like such an intriguing read!

Reply

Shirley L Adams on February 4, 2020

I would suggest some of the Tricia Guild books. You can get used ones in very good condition cheaply on
Amazon. They are very colorful, beautiful books, and teach a lot of colors. She is behind Designers Guild
and designs gorgeous fabrics.

My favorite book for color of all time is “”Color in Spinning” by Deb Menz. She dyes her own roving and
spins and plies multicolor yarns for amazing effects! She has interesting ideas about color, including
major and minor chords, harmonies, and much more complicated. Her ideas apply to much more than
spinning yarn. Unfortunately a used copy of her book on Amazon will cost $25 USD, but I find it the best
of her books. It’s just amazing!
Reply

ANNE FERGUSON on March 3, 2020

Hi Ingrid,,,I own and tout your book ! What a wonderful source of Joy

you are!

I wanted you to know about Betty Edwards book, She authored DRAWING

ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN which is almost, if not, a handbook

for artists.

Also, she has written a book on COLOR,,,which is a course in itself.

She is a wonderful teacher, as are YOU.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Author*

Email*

Website (optional)

Message

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

WELCOME TO THE INTERSECTION OF DESIGN AND DELIGHT!

The Aesthetics of Joy is a resource for finding more joy in life and work backed by scientific research.
Founded by Ingrid Fetell Lee, we celebrate the power to create a happier, healthier world through
design.

Find More Joy Every Day

The Joyspotter’s Guide is a free resource that shares my favorite tips for finding more joy, everywhere
you go!

FIRST NAME
EMAIL

You'll also receive periodic updates on new things from The Aesthetics of Joy. We respect your privacy.
Unsubscribe