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Part of
Progress in Colour Studies: Cognition, language and beyond
Edited by Lindsay W. MacDonald, Carole P. Biggam and Galina V. Paramei
[Not in series 217] 2018
► pp. 123–145

Chapter 7
Kandinsky’s colour-form correspondence theory

A cross-cultural re-investigation

| German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Berlin, Germany

About one hundred years ago, Wassily Kandinsky (1912) put forward a theory of aesthetically better or less fitting colour-form combinations, postulating that yellow corresponds with the triangle, red with the square, and blue with the circle. The present cross-cultural study, in Germany and Vanuatu (Melanesia), re-investigated the possible associations of triangle, square and circle with four colours – yellow, red, blue and green. The methodology was also extended to examine associations from the opposite perspective – of the four colours with the three forms. Results confirm the existence of non-arbitrary colour-form associations, but these are different from those posited by Kandinsky. For both German and Ni-Vanuatu participants, significant associations were found for the circle with yellow, and the square with blue. The two groups differed though in their choices of the form associated with red. The results complement findings in other recent investigations of colour-form associations and are explained by exposure to natural (and man-made) objects in the environment.

Keywords: Kandinsky, colour-form association, Germany, Vanuatu
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Kandinsky’s theory of colour‐form correspondences
    • 1.2First empirical investigations at the Bauhaus
    • 1.3Problems with Kandinsky’s theory and investigations
    • 1.4Recent empirical investigations
    • 1.5The present study
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials
    • 2.3Procedure
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Proportions of assignments and statistical analysis: Chi-square tests
    • 3.2Comparison between Germany and Vanuatu
    • 3.3Participants’ rationale
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Kandinsky’s colour-form correspondences are not confirmed
      • 4.1.1Red square?
      • 4.1.2Yellow triangle?
      • 4.1.3Blue circle?
      • 4.1.4Possible explanations for the observed differences to the investigations at the Bauhaus
    • 4.2Results support the existence of better-fitting and less-fitting colour-form combinations
      • 4.2.1Blue square
      • 4.2.2Circular yellow
      • 4.2.3Green triangle, triangular green
    • 4.3Importance of the “perspective” of the assignment
    • 4.4Cross-cultural similarities and differences
    • 4.5The prototype effect
    • 4.6Why is the square blue?
      • 4.6.1The correspondence of colour and form temperatures?
      • 4.6.2Choice of the favourite colour?
      • 4.6.3The association of blue and the square might also be based on the prototype effect
    • 4.7Other cross-dimensional and cross-modal correspondences
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 26 November 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.217.07wal
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